Kevin Marshall's America
Today, the Times Union website’s first, primary, big-graphic front-page story is…two girls from Shen High School in a FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! from over a year ago.
No, seriously, look for yourself.
The story, it seems, is that these two girls got into a FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FI—sorry, got caught up there. Anyway, the big girl kicks and punches her for a little bit, one teacher comes in to break it up, then another school official actually does break it up by physically pushing the assailant off her victim.
That’s it.
Did I mention this was over a year ago?
An entry on the TU’s Parent to Parent blog (from a staffer) posts the video and commends the administrator for breaking it up in a timely manner. The news article itself, however, notes the real reason it’s news: because it was on Tosh.0 on Comedy Central. That’s not in the headline, however. Instead, it reads “Administrator puts a quick end to girl fight,” with a sub headline urging you to “check out this video of a girl fight.”
Let’s run this story through the Bulls*** Transmorgifier and read the more literal slant on this story, shall we?
…RUNNING…
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
You guys, there’s a fight! C’mon, look!
(Albany, NY) Guys, there’s a fight! And it’s on YouTube!This one chick beats the Hell out of another chick. It’s so rad. Then this dude runs in and pushes her over!
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
That dude in the tie could not be reached for comment. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
(Daniel Tosh contributed to this story and is totally rad because he bought me milk at lunch yesterday when I didn’t have enough quarters on me)
So now the Times Union has a new editorial edict: if it’s local and on YouTube then it’s the lead story. These two girls were involved in an incident they likely had already put behind them and that the TU’s contribution to transforming it into a “viral phenomenon” will only serve to open up old wounds. A schoolyard fight is never big-time local news, let alone from a year ago.
But nevermind all that, there’s hits to be had.
It’s one thing where there are videos of rampant violence and property damage a la the Kegs and Eggs Riots. Those are, well, riots, and included arrests and all. It’s a story. This, on the other hand, is not.
I’m sure there will be an argument put forth – both in comments and personal e-mails in my inbox – that whatever garners hits and attention has to be considered news, and as such the Times Union has an obligation to not only cover but prominently feature to story.
To them I would just ask, hey, some countries put naked pictures of women in their newspapers. Why don’t we? The answer, of course, is because of journalistic standards. Pure profit by way of grabbing attention by any means necessary is not the sole motive of a newspaper; or if it is, then they desperately need to re-examine their priorities.
Today, the Times Union’s website will see an increase in traffic for featuring a viral video of an assault of an underage girl from over a year ago. However, in doing so they have struck a Faustian bargain, exchanging hits and traffic for irreputable harm to the credibility of the newspaper. Traffic for the sake of traffic comes with a price. It’s why the New York Times doesn’t put a picture of Kim Kardashian in tight jeans on its front page, and it’s why it’s ludicrous for the first thing I see when I visit the website of what should be the standard bearer for print journalism in this area is bold text and an image urging me to watch a “girl fight.”
It’s embarrassing, not just to the Times Union and those in the news room that perform fine and honorable work, but also to those of us who defend them and the area as a whole against those that would paint us as quaint and “the world capital of boring.”
No wonder they think so. Look at our front page news.
————–
UPDATE 2:45pm – After this blog was posted, the headline changed to “Shen Backs Principal in Viral Video.” Please note that no formal charges or lawsuits or complaints were filed in relation to the video. It is the very definition of a non-story. Would love to hear Rex Smith’s take on all this.
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24 Responses to Today’s top story on the Times Union website is simply embarrassing
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STALK ME
CHICK FIGHT,CHICKFIGHT,CHICKFIGHT…..
I don’t know where I stand on this issue. Like everyone else I loved the video of that fat kid body slamming the little bully. I loved the video of the “gang” fight at McDonalds. Where do we draw the line? Maybe one of these chicks was a bully? Does THAT make it news? Oh, and for the record, I don’t get Tosh.o..I don’t think he’s funny at all.
I may have to watch the video 10 more times to decide.
Spot on, Mr. Marshall.
Would love to hear the rationale and chain of custody for that decision. Used to be that this wouldn’t even make a chicken-dinner weekly, let alone a daily of any size.
Well, video and “social media” is a new toy for these guys. Guess there will be mistakes made in using it. But still makes me snicker at those who rise to management; smartest city editor I even knew very quickly went back to being a reporter (at the higher salary, of course).
Another case of CYA gone wrong.
To piggyback on your argument and with the growing anti-bully sentiment in mind, why on earth would a local paper drag these girls through the mud for a second time?
Isn’t negative media play perhaps the greatest form of bullying – the kind you can’t defend against or voice a rebuttal to? Seems a bit unfair. I’m sure both girls have paid their dues.
It’s lazy journalism. Get out there and get a real story. TU does not need to sensationalize children fighting, even if it has a “local angle”. Oh look! someone mentioned the Capital Region! As if we lived in a far-away land. If someone from the area, who no longer lives in the area, wins a prize at a local fair in Dubuque it makes the news for crying out loud. (Former Niskayuna Man Wins Whirligig!).
I think that the whole Kegs and Eggs debacle really brought to light the failings of the local media. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve seen something newsworthy happen, only to not be able to find a single mention of it in a local newspaper or newscast. There are many times when I hear of things that happened days or even weeks earlier and wonder why our LOCAL media outlets aren’t reporting on local news and events.
And then something like Kegs and Eggs happens and social media shows local media where the news is. But this is the rest of that. I’m sure that there are people who saw Tosh and said “Why wasn’t this on the news?”
The problem now is twofold. First, the idea that a viral video is inherently equal to news is a line I don’t want my local news media taking. Second, this wasn’t reported when it was actually news. Had it been reported as news when it happened, the mention on Tosh wouldn’t have been quite so shocking and the TU could have posted a link to an article from last year, maybe with a follow-up about the repercussions.
I can’t help but fault the TU for failing to make local issues and events their main focus. My biggest concern now is whether the TU (and other local media outlets) will make an effort to report on local news and happenings or if they will continue to try to take their queues from social media and only report viral videos months after the events took place.
Looks like someone else could/should be the Editor of this Newspaper website….mmmmmmm?
Colleen: I vote for Kevin.
very well written….
I am with Susan lazy journalism
This just in. Reports are coming in that later that day the two girls were seen having lunch at the same table, though that was broken up by a lunch lady sliding across the table.
I dunno. I’m with the rest of you. Non-story
I totally agree! Reminds me of the Kegs and Eggs video they posted on the front page only a few weeks ago. C’mon TU! You’re so much better than that!!
Absolutely. I’m with Kevin and the rest of you. The Times-Useless is beyond pathetic and clearly its editors are not up to the job of running a newspaper in the Capital City of the Empire State. No wonder they call it “Smallbany”.
BTW, anyone else sense the extreme irony of the scumbag kicking the girl on the ground wearing a hoodie sweatshirt with a PEACE SIGN on the back of it??????
Doc, crank up the flux capacitor on the DeLorean, get me into the time machine and take me back to the 1960’s. It’s a living nightmare here.
Well gee, Kevin, they HAD to come up with SOMETHING… and it was just too soon to go after the “Extreme Makeover” lady again.
At the very least, the headline should have been: “Capital Region Chick Fight Makes Tosh.0! We’re on the Map!”
I have to disagree with you on this one. If it was the same article that was up this afternoon, the story to me is obviously not, “Here’s a video of two girls fighting,” but “Here’s a video where a local principal questionably assaults a female student that suddenly has national exposure.”
That can be a big deal for parents of students at the school who weren’t yet aware of the video (according to WNYT, it has only recently surfaced for the first time), for the school system who might have to make a judgment call based on a shaky cellphone video, and a principal who could face punishment up to the point of losing his job, depending on outcry.
So…I’ve just had a look, and actually it looks as though the article you’re talking about is the Stephanie Lee article, which I suspect was actually a placeholder for Tim O’Brien’s later article. And I think that’s what this was — a placeholder to say, “This is going on, we’re aware of it, and we’ve put in a call to the superintendent.” What would have been best would be to mention that they were following up, but I’m sure they didn’t have a timetable. But I’m also sure the placeholder article was put up to prevent 600 people from calling the T-U to say, “Have you seen this?” and was probably put up after 600 people had already called to tip it.
Their headline should read:
Shen backs principal in video of fight (that we blew way out of proportion)
An id-drive that no-one seems to discuss in ANY psych text I read:
The drive to cover one’s butt! :-)
– Muse
Actually, yesterday was a bit of a slow news day, and that’s one of the reasons we’re afforded the opportunity to play up this sort of story. Was it award-winning journalism? Hell no, and we don’t pretend it’s anything other than a quick, throwaway story.
Still, this episode is comforting in a way. It demonstrates that readers care about the news and its relevancy to our lives. Good for all of us to be interested.
@ 18:
“Was it award-winning journalism? Hell no, and we don’t pretend it’s anything other than a quick, throaway story.”
:-)
Like the Quran-burning guy!
LOL! ;-)
Mike (#18) – Not to play tit for tat, but there was the story of the State’s budget and the suicide over the weekend on SUNY’s campus that you could have gone with. I’d also argue that the moment the decision is made to highlight this as the main story on the front page of the website for the duration of the working day but also to have two (if not more) staff reporters assigned to write and work on follow-up pieces, it’s no longer a “throwaway” story.
It is good for all of us to be interested. It’s also good for all of us to have a place to go that shows consistency in its standards. Not just on story selection but also in comments; as one commenter who said s/he is an employee at Shen pointed out, the blog linked from the front page featured many, many comments making fun of the girl(s) involved, particularly about their weight. That the Times Union would and could allow it speaks even more on the perceived degradation of standards.
Also, to those commenters: those are just little girls, you cretins.
It is indeed comforting to know that there are readers concerned with what passes for news, but it’s overwhelmed by the concern I have for how this whole situation was handled from start to finish.
Kevin I am so with you on that last statement. The Times Union, has such a double standard on human decency. What it allows in its comments are absurd. People can degrade and demoralize someone anonymously without any fear of reprisal.
To those girls: They say time heals old wounds, but the TU successfully ripped them open and poured salt in them by making that a front page story.
This is kind of off-topic but if this were two grown women fighting, most men wouldn’t want to stop that. Seinfeld episode about this topic was quite funny.
Does the T-U cover suicides?
@ 23:
Interesting question! Suicides are often a way of expressing that a person feels alone and ignored.
So it would probably be a bad idea, because it would feed it.
Also, I had a friend commit suicide in New York City, and the handful of papers that covered it made fun of him:
[http://articles.nydailynews.com/2005-03-10/news/18300470_1_fatal-plunge-gust-sill]. Not cool, New York!