Blog #9

One current event that is getting news coverage today deals with the hundreds of fans who showed up at Super Bowl XLV only to be turned away because some sections of seats were not ready.   Most media outlets are framing the story based on the aspect of how “angry” the fans are. They are not angry because their team lost, but because they paid a hefty amount of money for travel arrangements only to discover they had no seats when they arrived.

Several articles in today’s newspapers all talked about this. In USA Today there was an article written by Gary Mihoces that was titled “Fans angry after being turned away from Super Bowl XLV seats”.  Sean Leahy wrote another article for USAToday that had a headline of “Fans without seats at Super Bowl: ‘We were treated abominably’”.  On one CNN’s iReport, the title of the post was “SUPERBOWL! NIGHTMARE! P’OD FANS ANGRY! NO SEATS!!”

Just by reading these titles, it is very clear that the framing around this particular event was intended to be about the angry fans.  This framing affects the way that the public perceives the story.  The public too may feel angry and place blame on certain people without getting all the information available.  These media outlets are focusing on this fact alone rather than the entire event.  They should have included: How it happened? Why it happened? Who is to blame?   I feel that if the media chose to include these questions into their articles it would have balance out the coverage and gave the reader an overview of facts from the entire event, rather than just a reaction from some participates of the event.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-551648?ref=feeds/latest

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2011/02/fans-on-seating-snafu-at-super-bowl-we-were-treated-abominably/1

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2011/02/fans-angry-after-being-turned-away-from-super-bowl-xlv-seats/1?csp=hf