One of my primary purposes for writing "Buffaloed: How Race, Gender and Media Bias Fueled a Season of Scandal," was to show how reporters and their employers are out of touch with the very people who support them financially by buying newspapers and watching newscasts.
Since the publication of the book three weeks ago, the media has done its best to prove that very point.
As expected, the Denver-area newspapers have virtually ignored the book, which skewers them in a big way. In their defense, they have no obligation to promote the book and I certainly wouldn't question their right to ignore it.
What is disturbing, however, is their ongoing blind eye to the issues that are brought up in the book and which have quite properly undermined public confidence in the news media. Nearly two years after the early-2004 CU "scandal" story broke, the media has still covered exactly one half of this story - the politically-correct half that was spoon-fed to reporters by press agents, politicians and lawyers. The other half of the story has not yet seen the light of day in Denver. I'm not holding my breath waiting for the other side to be covered.
While the media sees itself as a watchdog, it seems to become very defensive when its own actions come under scrutiny. The stories that alleged sexual assault by CU football players, financial wrongdoing by the Gary Barnett football camp and the providing of women and alcohol to attract recruits have been unaccompanied by evidence - in spite of several expensive investigations.
But where are the follow-up stories showing those allegations were the result of the media's ill-advised feeding frenzy?
During the "scandal," the Rocky Mountain News published a story alleging that, according to a leaked audit, Barnett's camp had written $500 checks to "10 unidentified women." Innuendo aside, those checks were written to the wives of his assistant coaches as a token of his appreciation - a fact the story ignored. That and other stories on that subject also ignored the fact that all money taken in by the football camp belongs to Barnett. That arrangement is clearly spelled out in his contract, which is a public document, but none of the reporters failed to read before labeling it as a "slush fund."
During that same period, the Rocky Mountain News also published a story alleging that CU had exceeded the spending cap imposed by the NCAA for bowl-game trips. It was later forced to write a story revealing that the NCAA has no such spending cap. The basic premise of the first story was totally wrong. How can you trust a media entity that is so blatantly incompetent and/or biased?
The Denver Post's conduct has been no better.
In March of 2004, columnist Mark Kiszla wrote that there was "no doubt" women were served up like steaks at the training table at CU. Neither he nor anyone else has provided any evidence to back up that destructive statement. In November of this year, Kiszla inexplicably wrote a column stating that Barnett had earned a contract extension. If Barnett actually served up women like steaks, as Kiszla insisted, shouldn't he be fired, arrested or both? In a span of a few months, Kiszla forgot his own irresponsible statement and called for Barnett's contract extension. How can the public put any trust in a columnist who apparently can't agree with himself or even remember the irresponsible vitriol he spewed only months earlier?
Another Denver Post reporter, Jim Hughes, wrote a story in which CU Regent Cindy Carlisle called for a stronger conflict-of-interest policy on the board of regents, but, in that one-source story, he never told the reader that Carlisle is married to the attorney who was suing CU in the now-famous but dismissed Simpson case. He also failed to ask Carlisle about her own possible conflict of interest. Hughes' bias was both clear and disturbing.
Time and space constraints make it impossible to detail the scandalous, amateurish behavior of Denver's TV stations in covering the CU story.
The media's mishandling of the CU story has become evident to anyone who has cared to notice. Hopefully the media's continuing bias and head-in-the-sand attitude toward its own failings will soon be evident to all.
The publication of my book has convinced me that the media is still far removed from the public and even further removed from the long traditions of media cynicism and balanced reporting. Political correctness and bias were allowed to high-jack factual correctness. It now appears that the book - now one of the top-selling books in Colorado--will earn back the money it cost to publish. With any luck, it will also make some money.
My bigger wish is that the book will cause consumers to take a more critical look at news organizations that have shown laziness, ineptitude and bias in helping destroy the lives, reputations and careers of innocent young black men, their coaches and their families.
Coverage of the CU "scandal" has been a low point for journalism.
It is the readers and viewers, however, who are responsible for making the media accountable for its actions. The public can send a strong message to the media by carefully choosing what it buys or watches. How can the public trust an industry which has done its job so poorly and with such clear bias?
Let the buyer beware.
www.buffaloedbook.com
Read Plasket's previous column here.
Read about Plasket's book signing at Blake Street Tavern here.
Editor's Note: Have a take on the book? Publish your own book review here.