The University has gotten some bad press lately.
It began March 18, when GQ Magazine ranked LSU football No. 10 in the “The Worst Sports Fans In America.” The article labeled us “deep-fried lunatics,” citing beer bottle-throwing, drunken “Tiger bait!” chanting and a 2008 Daily Reveille video in which two female staffers were harassed while masquerading as Alabama fans.
One could easily dismiss the assessment, chalking it up to the dubious-at-best GQ. How seriously can we consider a piece that sarcastically describes itself as a “heavily researched, highly scientific accounting” of U.S. sports followings but includes the Montreal Canadiens?
Gameday celebrations sometimes get out of hand, but simply being rowdy and intimidating is a fan’s duty. Numerous credible publications like Sports Illustrated and ESPN, which consistently list LSU among the best fan bases and tailgating experiences, understand this.
You can trust some journalism sources. Some you can’t. Add CBS to those you can’t.
On March 22, CBS Evening News aired correspondent Michelle Miller’s story on low retention and graduation rates at colleges nationwide. The report became a tale of two universities — Maryland and LSU — and insinuated our dear old alma mater only offers study aids to athletes.
America’s entire higher education system is suffering, not just Louisiana’s. But if you’re going to use this state as the backdrop for a report on combating low university graduation rates, why not invoke the most notorious current example, the proposed merger of Southern University-New Orleans and the University of New Orleans?
Someone familiar with Louisiana’s higher education climate — especially a reporter who has lived and worked here, attended and taught at Louisiana universities and is married to a former New Orleans mayor — knows this story would’ve been better set at SUNO or UNO. Interestingly, Miller earned her master’s degree at UNO, and her husband has vocally opposed the suggested merger.
If LSU had SUNO’s 8 percent graduation rate or UNO’s 21 percent, the story would make sense. Instead, the University, which boasts the fourth-highest rate in Louisiana and surpasses the national average, according to The Times-Picayune, became the testament to higher education failure.
Why?
Ernie Ballard, University director of media relations, told Reveille Weekend that CBS chose to focus on “a prominent university that was doing well in football that people would recognize.”
Our gridiron greatness made us the easiest target — not the truest example.
The story, therefore, wasn’t about national graduation rates. It was about pitting athletics against academics, athlete versus student. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is Media Stereotyping 1001.
The newsgathering process should resemble the scientific method: The goal is solving problems and answering questions objectively. Reporters might harbor biases or hypotheses, but they ideally let the evidence tell the outcome.
Unfortunately, results are often skewed to fit internalized ideas. Even in news analysis, this is unacceptable. The facts cannot be changed, and the public cannot be denied access to the truth. By chopping interviewees’ words and excluding the University’s countless academic outreach programs, CBS proves guilty of both.
After the story aired, Ballard sent a reproachful letter to its producer, who regretted LSU’s reaction and felt the coverage was fair.
It wasn’t.
GQ and CBS might have contrasting journalistic reputations, but with these stories, their philosophies are identical: A “reporter” begins with preconceived notions and does everything necessary, from research to interviews to writing to editing, to strengthen his or her case. It’s persuasion rather than reporting, and it’s wrong.
CBS’ response implies an important lesson: When news outlets refuse to acknowledge blatant errors, it’s up to consumers to call out shady journalism when we see it. Yet most audiences are desensitized to these frequently distorted representations.
The mass media are obligated to disseminate the full truth about their subjects, and audiences are duly bound to uphold to this standard.
Kelly Hotard is a 19-year-old mass communication junior from Picayune, Miss. Follow her on Twitter
@TDR_khotard.
 
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Contact Kelly Hotard at [email protected]