Bedford Gazette bias

[LionPride]

Many of the schools across the county (with the exception of Bedford of course) have experienced at one point in time the bias of the Bedford Gazette. Yesterday's paper was a prime example.

I was happy to see an article in the sports section about the local wrestlers advancing to PJW's states. These local wrestlers have worked hard and deserved the recognition of advancing in an elite group. For those of you unfamiliar with PJW's, it is broken into the following age groups: 8 and under (this group cannot advance to states), 10 and under, 11 & 12, and 13 & 14. The state is broken into 11 Areas (similar to varsity regions), and each area has it's own section (similar to districts). Only the top 2 wrestlers from each Area make it on to states. Our local section is Area II, Section 4. There were pictures last week of all the Area II, Section 4 wreslters that advanced to Philipsburg (Area II).

The article yesterday was great, up until the point at the end where it listed all BEDFORD wrestlers that placed 3rd or 4th. If the Gazette is going to list the 3rd and 4th place wrestlers, then it has an obligation to list all the schools in the local area where there wrestlers placed 3rd or 4th. I would have been fine with the article if it hadn't listed 3rd or 4th place.

It appears the article may have been written by a guest, since the normal sports writers for the Gazette weren't listed as writing the article. Assuming this is the case, and assuming the writer was from Bedford, the Gazette has an obligation to follow up with the other schools to see how their wrestlers did.

Shame on the Gazette for not recognizing the other wrestlers from other schools who worked just as hard for their accomplishments as the Bedford wrestlers.

Good luck to all the local wrestlers wrestling in Johnstown today and tomorrow. Be proud of accomplishments. And for all of you that placed 3rd or 4th, hold your head high, be proud of what you've done - even if the Gazette doesn't think your school and your accomplishments are worthy of mention.

To follow the local crew and how they do, just go to the following link:
http://vallelywebdesign.com/pjw2006/

[Track101]

i agree LionPride bedford always gets the upper hand when its come to sports and the paper. it has been like that forever...

[D-nice]

The paper is in BEDFORD, and what, do you want the writers to coo all over EVERETT? or some other school that is a perennial loser?

[LionPride]

[quote="D-nice";p="120482"]The paper is in BEDFORD, and what, do you want the writers to coo all over EVERETT? or some other school that is a perennial loser?[/quote]

The paper is a Bedford COUNTY paper. If Everett had kids that placed 3rd or 4th at this tournament, you wouldn't be at all upset that they only listed Bedford school?

Why is a Bedford 3rd place any better than an Everett, Ridge, Hyndman, NBC or TM 3rd place?

D-nice - your constant attacks against Bedford county schools is really old. Go back to Pittsburgh and play with the big boys then. I don't think many of us will miss you.

[D-nice]

i'm talking about a whole body of work. accomplishments over an extended period of time. for instance EVERETT's football record compiled is approximately 250 wins and 450 losses wheras on the other hand Bedford's might be 450 wins and 250 losses. catch my drift? Is there an actual case that the "redneck gazette" listed one schools accomplishments and not the other? even though the accomplishments were equal? i doubt it, but I can understand how the writers at the gazette could be enamored with Bedford rather that any other school in bedford county.further more I think all you guys are PARANOID!

[LionPride]

[quote="D-nice";p="120492"] Is there an actual case that the "redneck gazette" listed one schools accomplishments and not the other? even though the accomplishments were equal? i doubt it, but I can understand how the writers at the gazette could be enamored with Bedford rather that any other school in bedford county.further more I think all you guys are PARANOID![/quote]

Did you read my post? Go back to yesterday's paper and read the article in the sports section I'm referring to. They ABSOLUTELY listed one school's accomplishments over the other and they were ABSOLUTELY equal accomplishments.

Those of you on this board who know me will know that my son did get 3rd (the fact that I'm revealing that will probably open up who I am to more folks). He made it to the finals, made one mistake in the 3rd period and got rolled to his back for back points and lost 3-1. In the wrestle back, he went into double OT (the rideout period) tied 1-1 and didn't get out. He lost that one 2-1 to get 3rd. He was as close as you can get but hey, he didn't do what it takes to win. That doesn't make me any less proud of him. Did I want his name in the paper? No, I didn't. But if you're going to list one school, you have to list them all. Why is Bedford's 3rd place finishes any better than his?

[TheAnalyst]

Did anyone from Ridge report it to the paper?

[LionPride]

[quote="TheAnalyst";p="120498"]Did anyone from Ridge report it to the paper?[/quote]

I don't know. What about the other schools? There are 5 schools in the county, and Claysburg is partially in Bedford County. This isn't a Ridge against Bedford thing.

When there was going to be an article, and the Gazette staff knew only one school had "reported" the results, shouldn't they pick up the phone, make a few calls, and get the full story? But that just might "water down" the Bedford spin in the article.

[TheAnalyst]

If one school reports results and the others don't, it's not the responsibility of the paper to make sure the other schools turn them in. Do you know if they did call or try to contact anyone from the schools and those calls/emails weren't returned? Happens all the time. Should they not report the Bedford results because the other schools are not on the ball? Did the staff have a deadline to meet and just had to go with what they had?

I don't know what happened in this particular case and it seems like you don't either, other than to assume bias. Do I think the Gazette has Bedford leanings at times? Yeah, I guess. But they also go out of their way to cover all the local teams.

[LionPride]

[quote="TheAnalyst";p="120502"]If one school reports results and the others don't, it's not the responsibility of the paper to make sure the other schools turn them in. Do you know if they did call or try to contact anyone from the schools and those calls/emails weren't returned? Happens all the time. Should they not report the Bedford results because the other schools are not on the ball? Did the staff have a deadline to meet and just had to go with what they had?

I don't know what happened in this particular case and it seems like you don't either, other than to assume bias. Do I think the Gazette has Bedford leanings at times? Yeah, I guess. But they also go out of their way to cover all the local teams.[/quote]

I seriously doubt that 4 other schools/coaches failed to return phone calls. Did I assume bias? You bet I did. Why? Because it's happened before and it just so happens that Bedford was the only school that had a listing in this case.

I'm going to assume one more time. Here's what happened. Someone from Bedford who is not a regular reporter for the gazette wrote the article and submitted it (I have to hope their bias isn't so bad that CW or SS wrote the article). That person from Bedford doesn't want to list or doesn't care what the other schools did. The Gazette got the article and didn't bother calling around for the other results.

You can't fault the other schools. It's not like the Gazette puts out an agenda of articles they are going to write. It was the Gazette's responsibility to follow up - it's their paper. They didn't do it, and shame on them for that. I have to wonder if the same laziness would have occured if a school other than Bedford submitted such an article. If you're not from Bedford, you know the answer. If you're from Bedford go ahead and keep on believing that a bias doesn't exist.