As beneficial as technology is to the media and the viewing public in 2014, it can often be a detriment, creating narratives that just aren’t true.
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Case in point: Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz drops a touchdown pass on Sunday Night Football against the Eagles then immediately tears his patella tendon. Eagles fans immediately cheer for the dropped touchdown catch, but the television shot shows them cheering while Cruz is writhing in pain. The next morning, a newspaper runs a cover story implying that an Eagles employee was cheering for the injury.
It’s true, Philadelphia fans don’t exactly have the best track record, but to suggest that because someone is seen cheering while a player is writhing in pain without understanding the full context is a lazy and dangerous tactic.
The man in the above picture is an employee of the Eagles, and after he was the focal point of the New York Daily News’ Monday morning cover, he called in to a local radio station to offer his side of the story.
Two major events happened almost simultaneously, yet because one of the events was so devastating, and perhaps because the Eagles fan base has a sub par track record and gets a bad rap from the public, the immediate reaction is to admonish them for cheering while an opposing player grasps at his injured knee.
Although we have the resources to create narratives and talking points in a split second, it is not always beneficial to do so. Sometimes the best method is to step back and assess the situation in its entirety, something the New York Daily News failed to do.
