I have moved to mokyingren.com :)

What is so wrong with the mainstream media’s coverage of the Mok Ying Ren and Dinah Chan story

Today

By Jan Lin

Hands up those of you who read the mainstream media’s front page exposure of triathletes Dinah Chan and Mok Ying Ren, and found yourself commenting on whether the ban on the pair was too harsh for being in the same room together? If you did, then you have missed the point.

What the mainstream media really did with the story was to open a can, found it too empty, then put worms into it and told the world, ‘Hey look, there are worms’.
Don’t be mistaken. There is nothing wrong for the media to publish any misconduct by national athletes. However, if the stories have no constructive purpose, then the mainstream media is just turning the rumour mill.

As readers, we have to realize that the media can skew the image of a public figure for their own benefit and we have to be discerning and skeptical about the reliability of media sources.

Despite being aware of the security reasons that triggered the triathletes’ decision to room together, why was there no mention in the story about pursuing how the bomb threats might have threatened the safety and performance of the triathletes?

The pair may not have handled the situation in the best possible manner, but if the stories were intended to highlight the codes of conduct of national sportsmen, then it should have addressed what an athlete should do when caught between their worry about personal safety and following team rules.

Yet giving this piece of news a front page headline with a suggestive photo has already misled people into believing that there must have been a major act of impropriety for the pair to be slapped with a seemingly major ban - and both were half-truths. The pair did nothing to be ashamed of and the ban was short enough not to prevent them from missing any major events.

“The pictures and headlines seemed very suggestive and was made to suggest an affair or something promiscuous but a quick flip through the papers to the report showed that nothing actually happened!” remarked a former managing editor of a leading entertainment publication in Singapore. “So what exactly made it headlines? It was really weird seeing them on the front page! I’m sure they sold heaps of papers with that though.”

I’m sure they did so too.