Media are supposed to be objective. They aren’t supposed to
take sides on news stories or events when giving straightforward news. There,
of course, are editorials in which media can give informed opinions on such
topics. Sometimes the line between being objective and editorializing is
crossed though by media.
ESPN, the nation’s biggest sports medium, has crossed the
line lately by appearing completely subjective in its attempts to get Los
Angeles Dodgers phenom rookie outfielder Yasiel Puig into next week’s Major
League Baseball All Star Game.
Last Saturday the All Star Game rosters were announced and
Puig was left off of the initial National League roster, but was selected as
one of five players in the Final Five vote by N.L. skipper Bruce Bochy. Despite
playing in only 34 games this season, even less at the time of the roster
announcement, it seemed like Puig would be a lock to win the Final Five vote
over arguably more deserving players like Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie
Freeman, Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, Washington Nationals shortstop
Ian Desmond and San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence. However, after
the first few voting totals came in Puig was ranked second in the voting behind
Freeman.
Puig has quite possibly been the best player in all of
baseball since he entered the league just over a month ago. He’s hit a whopping
.407 with eight home runs and 19 RBI. He would probably be mesmerizing to watch
play in the midsummer classic, but does a small sample size of 34 major league
games warrant him being an all star over someone like Freeman who has more
experience, not only this season but career-wise, and has all star worthy
numbers in his own right with a .305 average, nine homers and 56 RBI, which is
good enough for ninth in the National League ahead of all stars like Pedro
Alvarez, Troy Tulowitzki, Buster Posey, Andrew McCutchen, Joey Votto, David
Wright and many more.
Do to Puig only playing in about half the games that guys
like Freeman have and to the fact that the MLB All Star Game is merely an
exhibition game the question of which one of these players should make the game
really is a subjective one. However, it should be a subjective one made by the
fans. They should be the ones deciding whether or not they think Puig should
make the game or should not, because he may not have enough time in the league
in their opinion. Thankfully, they get to choose.
However, the media shouldn’t be trying to influence their
opinion on shows like “SportsCenter,” ESPN’s answer to the nightly news, which
should remain objective for the most part. On editorial shows like “Pardon the
Interruption,” “Around the Horn” and many others on the ESPN networks trying to
influence opinion isn’t really wrong, but the way the network/shows sometimes
go about it, especially of late, is somewhat infuriating and biased.
However, there is a difference between editorial shows
showing bias and straight news outlets like “SportsCenter” showing bias. When “SportsCenter”
stumps to get Puig into the All Star Game as they’ve blatantly been trying to
do for some reason (most likely ratings) much of this week it truly borders on
journalistic malpractice. “SportsCenter” shouldn’t have a rooting interest in
who wins the National League Final Vote, and notice they only care about the
National League vote and where Puig is in relation to the leading vote getter
in the category. The show shouldn’t care if the winner is Puig or Freeman or
any one of the other three players in the category. It’s the show’s duty to
report the winner of the vote, not influence it.
The Final Five vote will come to an end later this afternoon
and it wouldn’t surprise me if Puig has surpassed Freeman in the voting by then
to take the final slot on the National League roster. If he does ESPN should
pat themselves on the back, because they would have played a big role in
getting Puig on the team, after all, all we’ve heard about for half a week now
is how Puig should be on this team and not Freeman, Gonzalez, Desmond or Pence.
No comments:
Post a Comment