Media’s Role in AT Suspension
I have had two separate friends who are sports fans who don’t really watch the WNBA talk to me about how awful the AT “punch” was and how other players are targeting Caitlin. Obviously CC has a large fanbase that is mostly focused on her and her team.
Today’s media is less about journalistic integrity and more about generating clicks and views, because that’s what generates revenue today. The large CC fanbase means that the media will also focus on her, and anything that hurts her will generate even more clicks due to their outrage. That same media (which has to be slanted toward Clark for clicks) then seeps out to the general sports community. Since all of these outlets are saying the same thing to vie for the CC clicks, it becomes established fact in the sports world.
The sports media at large didn’t talk about the AT play being an ordinary loose ball scrum. They didn’t talk about how nobody on the Fever reacted at the time due to the lack of severity. They don’t talk about any of that, because they have to focus on AT “punching” Clark. I haven’t seen one discuss the racial abuse focused on the Mercury team and players individually.
The league, who has an incompetent commissioner, then bowed to the generated outrage. They failed to follow their own protocols, and suspended AT. They’ve done nothing to address the racial abuse. They’ve done nothing to support Alyssa. CC has also said nothing to stop her fans’ behavior.
Do any of y’all have any media outlets that I can direct people to for an alternative view? I hate how our digital media landscape is creating this universal view that CC is just a victim and target instead of an active participant in it.