Misrepresentation: The Key To A Good News Story?
CTV is carrying a story about a rogue youth fight club in Bracebridge (Ontario), and for some reason saw fit to toss in some misinformation about the UFC to help make the story about the club — I don’t know, more dangerous…….
“What they’re doing is trying to emulate what they see on TV, whether it’s from a video or it’s the actual UFC event.”
The UFC or “Ultimate Fighting Championship” organizes mixed-martial arts fights around the world. Participants get inside an octagon-shaped ring and fight until someone is knocked out, quits, or is forced to stop by the referee.
— and that description about what happens inside the octagon is wrong.
Twice a week I attend a North American kick boxing school, attendance will move to three times a week very soon as the biking season comes to an end and I look for something to do on Saturday afternoons.
In the class I am able to bring to the mat kicking and punching techniques learned in Taekwondo, (hopefully) by spring I will expand my training to include some Jiu-Jitsu ground skills (that’s why they call it Mixed Martial Arts), and (with luck) by next summer I will be able to enter local kick boxing and MMA amateur competitions.
I am also an avid kick boxing/MMA fan, attend local kick boxing/MMA events, and rarely miss televised events from four different kick boxing/MMA circuits.
…. all of which means that I have a good grasp of the sport, and the rules – and as I said, the description CTV used of what happens is wrong.
The description should read
The UFC or “Ultimate Fighting Championship” organizes sanctioned mixed-martial arts fights around the world. Highly trained participants, in excellent physical condition, get inside an octagon-shaped ring where they test their training and skills against another highly trained opponent. The winner of the match is determined by knockout, technical knockout , submission, or points awarded by three judges. Matches may be stopped by professional medical personnel who determine that, as a result of an injury, a participant is unable to safely continue.
That’s somewhat different than how the CTV news staffer described it isn’t it?
Then they couple their description with a quick, “some critics say it’s a brutal activity” line, and readers who don’t know much, or possibly anything, about the organized sport being discussed could easily think we’ve gone back to the days of the gladiators – and televised death matches are surely not far behind.
Which, I can only assume from their article, is what they want people to think; it’s that or they have totally ignorant of the sport writers on the job being supervised by totally ignorant of the sport editors.
Untrained people should not (thanks Dr. Frink) be trying to emulate what happens in a professional kick boxing/MMA ring, nor should they try and emulate what happens on a professional race track, or a movie set with professional stunt people, or any number of other things that trained professionals do for a living – but the fact is that some people do, and they have been doing so for as long as there have been people, and CTV misrepresenting a legitimate sport is not going to accomplish anything worthwhile to prevent that.
The Coming Conservative Chick Crack-up – Sarah Palin Edition…
TAMMY GOES TO WASHINGTONI dont’ mind admitting I am still a big fan of the old Debbie Reynolds Tammy movies, that went on to be a television series when I was just the right age to be impressed. If you aren’t familiar with the story, it is one about …
Missing a word in your last paragraph…
Untrained people should be trying to emulate what happens in a professional kick boxing/MMA ring, nor should they try and emulate what happens….
Of course I know you meant “Untrained people should not be trying to emulate…”, but some fool will get the wrong idea.
Heh. CTV only thought they were breaking the first rule of Fight Club.
Okay. But condense that paragraph to a half-second sound bite and you get what CTV came out with.
Twice a week I attend a North American kick-boxing school, attendance will move to three times a week very soon as the biking season comes to an end and I look for something to do on Saturday afternoons.
At loose ends are you? What about playing the numbers or shaking down shopkeepers for protection money?
(Ok, ok, I’m sorry, but you did leave yourself rather deliciously wide open there.)
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SL I want to come to your fights if and when you get into competition.
For some reason I keep thinking of Bud “The Tank” Abbott.
Keep up the training – and make sure you take it easy on those folks walking around with rolled up newspapers
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