Wednesday, November 14, 2007

A glaring example of the "Media Problem"


John Cena, former WWE Champion, sat down recently and gave a 45 minute interview to CNN about drugs, pro wrestling and everything in between for their documentary on the subject stemming from the Chris Benoit incident in the Spring. What occurred was nothing short of a lack of journalistic integrity and a tarnishing of a man who has done a lot of good for folks.

Now I know most of you know I'm a pro wrestling fan so you're not surprised to see me come to John Cena's defense. Ask CityCat or Dock, I am not what you would call a John Cena fan. I don't particularly like his wrestling style and I think his gimmick is microwaved cow shit. That being said, he didn't need or deserve what CNN did to him.

If you watch the videos, watch the CNN edit first so you can understand the outrage. They ask him about steroids and edit it to make it appear as if he is trying to dodge the question, a quick ten seconds bit. Wisely the WWE sent along a camera and recorded the whole interview. That is the second video you should watch, the unedited footage where the first words out of Cena's mouth are absolutely not.

This is a glaring example of the problem with our media in a nutshell. They create news to fit their agenda, in this case that all pro wrestlers are on steroids and are drug addicts. They get a beautiful and insightful answer, one of the most candid I've seen on the subject, and cut it to fit into their mold. I wish the news would report NEWS, and not what they consider will serve to their message and agenda.

In my opinion, this is why things like blogs are becoming more relevant in our time. Blogs have agendas, but they will at least give you the entire story so that you can make up your mind about the facts. They don't edit out footage to suppress someone's statement and story. This is why bloggers are taking over for "traditional" media, they're the only ones with journalistic integrity left.

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