Clearly, the NFL Referees' Lockout by their (primarily) billionaire owners was a test to see how far the rights of unionized workers could be diffused. The dilemma of media outlets, as reliant on advertising that is owned or controlled by corporations, was how to report the Lockout in a way that would not affect their own media revenue streams. In essence, the NFL Referees' Lockout negotiations became a stalemate that embodied and symbolized corporate control over U.S. society.
How would various U.S. media outlets depict the Lockout? Could they/ would they deconstruct disparate points of views and ideologies without sacrificing their viability? To what degree would different media outlets incorporate a wide array of voices and constituents in the Lockout debacle?
One way to get answers to some of these questions is to turn to Storify.com. Storify is a free online research tool which allows you to search popular culture topics via social media or Google postings. It's a very efficient way to see what others are saying about a contemporary topic in the news. You can do more than surf, if you like: you can create your own Story, which represents your individual search and compilation. So, why don't you turn to the story I researched, created, and commented upon, NFL Refs' Lockout, to see what the media said from the onset to resolution of the story? And post a comment afterward, so you can share in the conversation about media, the NFL Lockout, and Storify as a mechanism to figure out what's going on in popular culture.
Dr. Carolyn, I like how you used Storify to show how various media outlets skewed their narrative of the referee lockout to their respective audiences. It's a powerful rhetorical technique that (a) shows the unfortunate degree to which various outlets under-report the full import of events, and (b) gives your reader a fuller perspective on those events. I fear that this approach is better suited for the minority who are erudite readers and are prepared to think independently. However, if more people came to places like your Spotify post to get the real story behind the events that show up in today's media, we'd have a more knowledgeable and less gullible populace, and the media would eventually head in the direction of more accurate reporting. Looking forward to your next compilation!
ReplyDeleteNow that the refs are back on the job, this story is rapidly fading from the public consciousness. And as usual, there are many sides to the complete story.
ReplyDeleteOne intriguing aspect is WHY the NFL, under the auspices of the Commissioner, allowed unqualified replacement refs on the field. Few news outlets let it be known that ALL of the Tier I and Tier II college officials refused to move up to the NFL during the lockout. This forced the league to drill down into the ranks of officials in lesser college leagues and even high school football programs.
One would think that a college ref would leap at a chance to work at the NFL level, so why did none of them step forward?
It turns out that the NFL officials are in charge of giving those college refs their assignments. So the college officials were not supporting the NFL refs out of altruism or because they believe in the sanctity of the collective bargaining process, they did it because they were protecting their own financial interests.
Nonetheless, Commissioner Goddell, given 4 months advance notice that replacement officials might be needed, utterly failed in his duty to the owners and the league to provide qualified substitutes. His performance did not rise to the level of being just plain bad - it was abysmal. The commissioner should be fired.
Any player can be fined for bring discredit upon the league but no player has ever tarnished the sport so egregiously as Goddell did in this instance. He should be tossed and deservedly so.
In my view, the entire dispute has little to do with middle class America. No one on the gridiron from the coaches to the players to the officials is worried about having no health insurance or sleepless because his unemployment benefits ran out 6 months ago and his house is up for foreclosure.
The real question regarding sports is why everyone on the field is touted as a hero and highly compensated while those who train our children are looked down upon and forced to struggle for a few crumbs from the table.
Food for thought.
Dr. Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteI like how you used Storify to show the various biased accounts of the lockout. You show how media outlets skew their reporting to their audiences, and therefore are not reliable sources of information when taken individually. And ultimately you show how sports audiences are consuming entertainment rather than knowledge. If you extended this technique outside the realm of sports, which I see as inherently entertainment, I suspect you would show that the news media as a whole is delivering more entertainment than knowledge. Eeks!