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Male Reporter Beaten: Not Newsworthy

M

MattParker

Inactive
Inactive User
Is there a double standard at work here? An ABC reporter was covering a riot in Behrain gets badly beaten and NPR and most of the mainstream media don't report it. In contrast, Lara Logan was treated as a major story.

Radio-Info.com said:
An ABC News reporter is badly beaten in Bahrain
Bahrain In another instance of what some Western reporters face while reporting on the spreading protests in the Middle East, ABC Radio News reporter Miguel Marquez was attacked during a protest in the capital city of Bahrain, while he was on the air. During a chilling report, Marquez reports that government police began firing teargas at the few thousand people that had gathered in Manama's Pearl Square. At one point, you can hear Marquez getting hit by someone, and he yells "journalist, journalist" in an effort to identify himself. He repeats "journalist, journalist" several more times while unidentified people speaking in Arabic are heard continually hitting Marquez. For the next 70 seconds, with his recorder still capturing every harrowing sound, you can hear a beaten Marquez saying "I'm going" over a dozen times to let his attackers know he is leaving. He then says after he gets away and while out of breath, "I just got beat - rather badly - by a gang of thugs. These guys are not screwing around." You can listen to the very disturbing report by Marquez here. The attack on Marquez comes after CBS News reporter Lara Logan was beaten and sexually assaulted by a gang in Egypt, in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Logan, being treated back in the States, received a call from President Obama
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The earlier attack on Anderson Cooper in Egypt also drew scant media attention compared to the attack on Logan. Is this sexism? Mob attacks man is not news; mob beats woman is news.
 
I agree. This should be a bigger story. It can't be like ... the first murder in a town is big news, but by the 50th, "generic" murders are no longer a big story. These attacks on journalists say a lot about some of the riff-raff involved in these countries.
 
johnbasalla said:
I agree. This should be a bigger story. It can't be like ... the first murder in a town is big news, but by the 50th, "generic" murders are no longer a big story. These attacks on journalists say a lot about some of the riff-raff involved in these countries.
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Lest we look down out noses at he riff-raff in other countries, let us not overlook the bubbling and turmoil at the edges of both camps and how the various media of both camps are handling the boil-overs in Madison, WI. We seem to have at least small amounts of riff-raff in our own country, too.

The good news is we don't tend to stash our riff-raff away in prisons or have the government beat them like other countries. Well...... at least, not that we know about.
 
Why is this story in public/non-commercial radio? Last time I checked, ABC News was for profit.

When I got to sent to war zones, I signed a waiver. If I had been killed, it was my responsibility. It's not a story. It's paying the ultimate price for doing what you do. Some people cover fires. Others cover wars. But if you're in a war zone, you know you will likely get hurt. I worked with reporters who were beaten in Panama, Nicaragua, and the streets of Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots. None of them wanted attention. Real journalists don't want to be the story. It interferes with the work.
 
TheBigA said:
Why is this story in public/non-commercial radio? Last time I checked, ABC News was for profit.

When I got to sent to war zones, I signed a waiver. If I had been killed, it was my responsibility. It's not a story. It's paying the ultimate price for doing what you do. Some people cover fires. Others cover wars. But if you're in a war zone, you know you will likely get hurt. I worked with reporters who were beaten in Panama, Nicaragua, and the streets of Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots. None of them wanted attention. Real journalists don't want to be the story. It interferes with the work.
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I posted this here as another example of NPR's double-standard in news coverage. They were all over the Lara Logan story for days, and then made a big deal of how they had to remove posts from listeners that did not share their "concern" about the incident - comments about Logan not too different from your comment about the incident involving the ABC guy. Very little about Anderson Cooper and nothing about this guy. The post is here because NPR is sexist. Dog bites man: Not News. Mob assaults guy: Not News either. NPR has long practiced reverse discrimination in favor of hiring minorities and women (no matter how unqualified). But their PC biases also continue influence news judgements, such as in this instance.

So do the comments you just made also apply to Lara Logan and how NPR should have reported that story?
 
MattParker said:
I posted this here as another example of NPR's double-standard in news coverage.
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So you're saying NPR didn't cover the story? Because they say otherwise:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/02/17/133831776/bahraini-police-attack-protesters-abc-reporter?print=1

MattParker said:
So do the comments you just made also apply to Lara Logan and how NPR should have reported that story?
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If a woman was raped in public, that's a story. If that woman is also a reporter, that shouldn't be the reason the story is covered.

But as someone who regularly has sent reporters into war zones, I would NEVER have sent a pretty blond female into such a place. Call me a sexist, but that was a thoughtless and stupid decision. You might as well have sent her in a bikini.
 
I'm not sure I can get behind the idea that Anderson Cooper's beating wasn't a big story. It was everywhere for at least 2 days.

The only thing the media is missing here is what's really going on. Do they think reporters are the only ones getting beaten and sexually assaulted?
 
TheBigA said:
MattParker said:
I posted this here as another example of NPR's double-standard in news coverage.
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So you're saying NPR didn't cover the story? Because they say otherwise:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/02/17/133831776/bahraini-police-attack-protesters-abc-reporter?print=1

MattParker said:
So do the comments you just made also apply to Lara Logan and how NPR should have reported that story?
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If a woman was raped in public, that's a story. If that woman is also a reporter, that shouldn't be the reason the story is covered.

But as someone who regularly has sent reporters into war zones, I would NEVER have sent a pretty blond female into such a place.
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A blog post on the website is not really covering the story. The Logan story was used in several segments over a few days on Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

Lara Logan was not raped. The CBS release did not say that, although many people seemed to want to jump to that conclusion. As one who says he is or was a reporter, you should know better. Apparently she was groped and some her outer clothing was ripped off. In some legal codes, that is defined as "sexual assault," but it is not rape.

Not sending a reporter to a story because she is a pretty, blond and female could get you sued and in trouble with the EEOC or other anti-discrimination enforcement agencies. In Logan's case, she seems to have based her career in being the pretty, blond female in danger. Maybe she confuses herself with another female reporter with the initials LL and expects some guy in tights and a cape to fly in and rescue her.
 
MattParker said:
A blog post on the website is not really covering the story.
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They did reportering. How it was used is not a function of "reporting." That's editorial.

MattParker said:
Lara Logan was not raped. The CBS release did not say that, although many people seemed to want to jump to that conclusion. As one who says he is or was a reporter, you should know better.
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I clearly said "IF." I'm not reporting this story. I'm just making a professional evaulation.

MattParker said:
Not sending a reporter to a story because she is a pretty, blond and female could get you sued and in trouble with the EEOC or other anti-discrimination enforcement agencies.
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I don't care. I'll take my chances on that one. I sleep very well that way. In any case, she would have to sign the same waiers as anyone else. But I'd personally speak with her family before I did anything. I'm just that kind of guy.
 
Don C said:
Do they think reporters are the only ones getting beaten and sexually assaulted?
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That's why I don't like turning such stories into news. Lots of people are being beaten. Reporters are fair game. They are not exempt, and I felt some of Anderson's comments were such that he felt he was.
 
TheBigA said:
I don't care. I'll take my chances on that one. I sleep very well that way. In any case, she would have to sign the same waiers as anyone else. But I'd personally speak with her family before I did anything. I'm just that kind of guy.
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And would you speak with a male reporter's family in that situation? Does an adult female reporter need a permission slip from her parents or husband to cover a war?

How would you have felt if your boss had asked anyone in your family before sending you to cover a war or riot or natural disaster? I might add that TV types generally covet such assignments and have built careers on them. Logan, in particular, has.
 
TheBigA said:
That's why I don't like turning such stories into news. Lots of people are being beaten. Reporters are fair game. They are not exempt, and I felt some of Anderson's comments were such that he felt he was.
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I do think there is a mindset among some journalists that they are immune from any kind of criticism or physical attack because they're supposed to be "neutral". Sometimes being removed from reality for so long, they forget that the world is a dangerous place.
 
MattParker said:
And would you speak with a male reporter's family in that situation? Does an adult female reporter need a permission slip from her parents or husband to cover a war?
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I think it's wrong for women to serve active duty in military too. That's simply my point of view.

Did anyone sexually molest any of the male reporters covering this situation? If so, please let me know.

MattParker said:
How would you have felt if your boss had asked anyone in your family before sending you to cover a war or riot or natural disaster? I might add that TV types generally covet such assignments and have built careers on them. Logan, in particular, has.
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There are obvious physical differences between a man and a woman. This is a physical issue. Not an equality issue. The minute women have the same physical structure as a man, I will change my thinking. Oh, and tonight, I held an elevator door for a women. Not a man. Shall we alert the media?

By the way, not all women reporters are whispy young blonds. I would have had no trouble sending Sylvia Poggioli to Egypt. She'd have kicked their butts.
 
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