New Orleans Saints players sit on the bench during the national anthem before an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017.
The NFL is a multibillion-dollar business. There were numerous news reports on the players and their right to free speech and their reasons for protesting during the national anthem. On what every NFL player/team did, or planned to do at upcoming games.
What don’t we know? What hasn’t been reported? How have the players’ protests during the singing of the National Anthem at football games affected business?
NOTE: The role of the media is to:
The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics states the following under the section “Act Independently”:
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.
Read the “Code of Ethics” at: spj.org/pdf/ethicscode.pdf.
1. What type of bias is this an example of?
2. Just as the story of the players and President Trump’s reaction to their protests has been reported on non-stop, there should be multiple news stories on the other half of the story. Do an internet search and list at least 5 headlines from the bigger news outlets (CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN, etc.) on each of the following:
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers.
1. Bias by story selection and omission.
2. Answers vary, but most likely: ‘There are a few anecdotal stories of individual fans who gave away their team gear, but there are few/no stories on the effects of the player protests.’