Wash Post Imagines Non-Existent ‘Questions About Gun Violence’ at Olympics

August 6, 2012 | Filed under 2nd Amendment,Constitutional Issues,Media | Posted by

The headline of the Internet version of a Washington Post story about the shooting sports at the Olympics asserts that “even at the Olympics” the Olympians face questions about gun violence. Yet, upon reading the article, it is clear that the author of the piece is saying that none of the Olympic contestants have been confronted with such questions at all, at least not from anyone in the Olympics.

The headline of the piece reads, Even at the Olympics, Athletes in the Sport of Shooting Face Questions About Gun violence. But as you read it, what is clear is that only the media are pestering the Olympic Shooters with such questions. The contestants said no one actually in the Olympics, no fellow Olympians, have asked any such questions.

The print version carries a different headline that isn’t much better: Shooting: Athletes Battle for Titles — and to Dispel the Stigma of Gun Violence.

In any case, the whole story shows that it is really the media asking these questions, not other contestants, as at the very end of her piece Boyle gives us this paragraph:

“It’s not shocking to hear questions about gun control legislation,” Johnson said. “But when it comes to athletes in the village, I haven’t heard of a single one ask about anything along the lines of politics or Aurora. They see what we do.”

Oh, so after two pages telling us the Olympians face “questions on gun violence” we find out that they really aren’t?

Of course, sometimes one has to wonder if the folks in the Old Media that write the headlines even read the stories to which they affix titles?

For those unaware, the reporters rarely ever write the headlines for the articles that carry their bylines. Usually it is an editor or some other newsroom personnel that take care of headlines, so we probably can’t blame Katherine Boyle for this misleading headline.

However, Boyle herself did insert the political issue into the story for no real reason, so one can almost not blame the headline writer for this conceit.

In other words, there is no controversy, here. It’s just the fevered imagination of the Old Media up to its old tricks again.

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Posted by on August 6, 2012.
Filed under 2nd Amendment, Constitutional Issues, Media.
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago-based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com and BigJournalism.com, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, RightPundits.com, StoptheACLU.com, Human Events Magazine, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events.He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book "Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture" which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions, EMAIL Warner Todd Huston: igcolonel .at. hotmail.com"The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it." --Samuel Johnson

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  • Guest

    That really is a nothing story. (In the sense that it is a story about nothing). I think the reporter could have done roughly a half-dozen more interesting stories.

    • herddog505

      Yes. I suspect that’s part of WTH’s point: why did the WaPo choose to run a boring, nothing story about imagined questions to Olympic shooters about gun violence? Hmmmm… That’s a poser, isn’t it?

      • Guest

        I know what you’re getting at, Herd. I see three possibilities:
        1) Reporter has an agenda;
        2) Reporter was desperate for a story idea, so decided to make shooting sports relevant to current events; or
        3) Reporter was trying to justify a per diem.

        Actually, I can think of some far more interesting stories to do (aside from results/event reporting):

        1) Training with the Olympians. Reporter (presumably unfamiliar with handling guns) goes for a training session with Team Shooting USA. Reporter weaves in portions of the bio of the most interesting Olympic athlete at the same time reporter learns about shooting.

        2) Why did USOC set up a partially funded team rather than let the NRA continue to pay for it? Was there political baggage associated with NRA? What does NRA think about it?

        3) Firearms safety. Kind of a nothing story, but it’s always a good idea to get safety tips out there.

        • herddog505

          My opinion is that it’s a combination of 1 & 2: the reporter has an agenda, and the recent horrors in Colorado and Wisconsin made it a natural to yap about “gun viloence”.

          As for more interesting stories, I fear that Olympic shooting sports don’t lend themselves to much glamor, certainly not as much as the flashier events like gymnastics or fast team sports.

          • Guest

            I lean more toward 2. For most grunt-level reporters I have known, the agenda is “File story, then drink bourbon.”

    • http://opinion.ak4mc.us/ Scribe of Slog (McGehee)

      Sure but what could he do? They sent him to the Olympics.

  • jim_m

    Statistically, CCW holders commit few crimes than the general public. How much you want to bet that sport shooters like these Olympians commit next to zero crimes. The only thing this shows is the media’s pathological phobia of firearms.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Stan25 Stan Brewer

    I am surprised that the state controlled media even mentioned shooting sports. It has been the policy of the media to totally ignore the sport entirely over the last several Olympics (Winter and Summer). I guess with the level of attention that they have been paying to the issue of gun control in the last few weeks, it is no surprise that they think the shooting people are also wannabe mass murderers. There are some that would even welcome the Olympics totally banning all shooting sports.