Score one for shitty journalists

[MarkyX]

http://news.yahoo.co..ar_nascar_dateline_1

Dateline NBC decides it would be a good idea to bring a few muslims to a NASCAR race track and try to watch the reactions of the dominent-redneck audience.

Bias anyone?

NASCAR said NBC confirmed it was sending Muslim-looking men to a race, along with a camera crew to film fans' reactions. The NBC crew was "apparently on site in Martinsville, Va., walked around and no one bothered them," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Wednesday.

"It is outrageous that a news organization of NBC's stature would stoop to the level of going out to create news instead of reporting news," Poston said.

"Any legitimate journalist in America should be embarrassed by this stunt. The obvious intent by NBC was to evoke reaction, and we are confident our fans won't take the bait," he said.

In truth, if NBC really wanted to make the crazy rednecks pissed off, they should've won Jeff Gorden shirts.

For those getting insulted by "redneck = NASCAR fan" stereotype I'm putting, Ann Coulter can be a bitch, so I'm going to be a bastard.

[The-shnazzyone]

I do agree, that's fucked up!
Shame on you nbc!!!

on a different note... who can watch NASCAR anyway... it's 95% boring 5 percent crashing. I avoid NASCAR cuz the first time i ever sat down and watched NASCAR dale ernheart died at the end... so i guess it was my fault.

[jdubwatson]

yeah. whoever's in charge for that little idea is stupid. and yeah, NASCAR is the most boring thing ever. cars go really fast around in ovals. why the hell do people like that stuff anyway?

[seventy-one]

They just set up an expirement. They weren't making news, if there weren't anti-Islamic reactions in the first place, then there wouldn't be a story. I don't see what's wrong with it.

However, it does seem like they were just picking on NASCAR (and c'mon, its NASCAR, a lot of the fans still have Confederate Flags on their cars, what do you expect to find there?), they should have gone to NBA, NFL, MLB etc., events as well.

[JMHX]

Sensationalist media? Gasp.

[Imperator]

They just set up an expirement. They weren't making news, if there weren't anti-Islamic reactions in the first place, then there wouldn't be a story. I don't see what's wrong with it.

What's wrong with it is that it WAS trying to create news. If their "experiment" had succeeded, headlines would read:

RACISM IN AMERICA; Scientific Study reports most Americans see people of Middle Eastern decent as terrorists.

And the article would proceed to blame Bush.

A journalist's job is to observe, PERIOD. Bu they tend to skew everything one way or the other for those all important ratings........

[Begoner]

A journalist's job is to observe, PERIOD.

No, their job is also to investigate. This was a good experiment -- the data would have implied something about the way NASCAR fans feel about Muslims. It would have been by no means conclusive, but it would have been a nice first step, and the reactions would have been hilarious to watch on camera.

[JoyDivision]

Do you pigheaded americans forget.
Its like, why do you never hear about a Muslim on Newgrounds? If you can find me one, I will take that comment back. But you americans should remeber Muslims are caple of doing anything, such as drive a plain into a building. Imagine what the could do in a NASCAR racing tournement with a bunch of Liberal Patriotic americans shouting "Paki" at them?

What I mean is, American has too many problems.

[Imperator]

No, their job is also to investigate

Explain what they were investigating.

This was a good experiment

This was a TERRIBLE experiment, they went in with the results already in mind, didn't have any sort of standards or anything. Sample bias, blind bias, experimenter bias.

-- the data would have implied something about the way NASCAR fans feel about Muslims.

WRONG! The data would have implied something about the way THOSE NASCAR fans felt about THAT Muslim. Don't EVER generalize an experiment that much......

and the reactions would have been hilarious to watch on camera.

That was the whole "purpose" of their "experiement". To generate ratings. They went in with some shady intents, and I'm damn glad it blew up in their faces..........

Its like, why do you never hear about a Muslim on Newgrounds?

They're more than welcome to join.

But you americans should remeber Muslims are caple of doing anything, such as drive a plain into a building.

Oh gee, I have NO CLUE what you're talking about........

Imagine what the could do in a NASCAR racing tournement with a bunch of Liberal Patriotic americans shouting "Paki" at them?

Drop an LGB?

What I mean is, American has too many problems.

That was certainly a roundabout way of expressing this concern......

[IllustriousPotentate]

At 4/11/06 08:57 AM, Begoner wrote:

A journalist's job is to observe, PERIOD.

No, their job is also to investigate. This was a good experiment -- the data would have implied something about the way NASCAR fans feel about Muslims. It would have been by no means conclusive, but it would have been a nice first step, and the reactions would have been hilarious to watch on camera.

Their job is to investigate when there is actually something to be investigated. There's plenty of stuff that is worthy of investigation right now (i.e. the Bush administration) without having to go out and trying to get a rise out of people. If they had sent these Muslims into the race to yell "Allah Akbar" and "Death to America," and people got angry, I suppose that would have been investigation, too, huh, rather than instigation?

[IllustriousPotentate]

Oh, and the fact NBC, which actually televises NASCAR races, thinks that NASCAR fans are ignorant and racist, is quite offensive, especially when they're trying to milk commercial dollars and ratings out of NASCAR fans.

[mofomojo]

This is shameful reporting, that's about all I have to say about this.

[HighlyIllogical]

At 4/11/06 08:57 AM, Begoner wrote:

No, their job is also to investigate. This was a good experiment -- the data would have implied something about the way NASCAR fans feel about Muslims. It would have been by no means conclusive, but it would have been a nice first step, and the reactions would have been hilarious to watch on camera.

Exactly. It's a brilliant experiment. The majority of NASCAR fans, as far as I can tell, come from red states. Simple as this:

If red state Republicans tend to dislike muslims, and most NASCAR fans are red staters (or red-state Republicans), then most NASCAR fans dislike muslims. Not conclusive, sure. But even bring a sikh to a NASCAR race or, hell, on a plane, and watch the heads turn.

[AreYouSure]

At 4/11/06 12:03 AM, JMHX wrote: Sensationalist media? Gasp.

*Shakes finger*

Tolerance is fine, but c'mon.

At 4/11/06 12:02 AM, seventy-one wrote: They just set up an expirement. They weren't making news, if there weren't anti-Islamic reactions in the first place, then there wouldn't be a story. I don't see what's wrong with it.

Do you know how "experiments" are conducted, especially with human subjects? I can guarantee you that NBC did not inform the fans of their little "experiment" before using them as subjects.

NBC should be fined for unethical practices.

[AreYouSure]

At 4/11/06 01:38 PM, GSgt_Liberal wrote:

At 4/11/06 08:57 AM, Begoner wrote:

This was a good experiment -- the data would have implied something about the way NASCAR fans feel about Muslims.

Exactly.

You're a fucking idiot.

[seventy-one]

At 4/11/06 01:42 PM, AreYouSure wrote:

At 4/11/06 12:02 AM, seventy-one wrote: They just set up an expirement. They weren't making news, if there weren't anti-Islamic reactions in the first place, then there wouldn't be a story. I don't see what's wrong with it.

Do you know how "experiments" are conducted, especially with human subjects? I can guarantee you that NBC did not inform the fans of their little "experiment" before using them as subjects.

NBC should be fined for unethical practices.

Why should they inform them if they tell them, "Hey, we're going to see if you're racist or not" are they really going to act racist. If they told them anything, it would change the outcome of the expirement. Its not unethical, they can just blur out the faces of the people they film that don't want to be on tape.

If they just had them walking through the building and people started yelling at them, acting violent towards them, insulting them etc., then that deserves to be on tape. If they told them to go in and start yelling Allah-hu-Akbar as loud as they can then that's something else, but then again we can't tell until we see the video.

[TheShrike]

At 4/11/06 12:03 AM, JMHX wrote: Sensationalist media? Gasp.

Quoted for great justice!

[AreYouSure]

At 4/11/06 06:02 PM, seventy-one wrote:

At 4/11/06 01:42 PM, AreYouSure wrote: NBC should be fined for unethical practices.

Why should they inform them if they tell them, "Hey, we're going to see if you're racist or not" are they really going to act racist. If they told them anything, it would change the outcome of the expirement. Its not unethical, they can just blur out the faces of the people they film that don't want to be on tape.

They should blur out the faces of people who don't want to be on the tape? What the fuck? So you wanna catch the reactions of people to a muslim person, but then give them the option of blurring their faces out afterwards? This is just inviting smartasses to show off for the camera and get their 15 seconds of fame, at the expense of respectable news.

Your tolerance of this shit-journalism is helping to make society stupider and shallower.

If they just had them walking through the building and people started yelling at them, acting violent towards them, insulting them etc., then that deserves to be on tape.

If it had to be staged, then it's not fucking real. If it's not fucking real, don't fucking report it on the news.

Dammit people . . . help me out here.

If they told them to go in and start yelling Allah-hu-Akbar as loud as they can then that's something else, but then again we can't tell until we see the video.

Why do you even want to give any merit to the video?

[WolvenBear]

At 4/11/06 01:38 PM, GSgt_Liberal wrote: Exactly. It's a brilliant experiment. The majority of NASCAR fans, as far as I can tell, come from red states. Simple as this:

It's retarded. And it's not an experiment. They were sure there would be all kinds of bigotry and were there to capture it.

If red state Republicans tend to dislike muslims, and most NASCAR fans are red staters (or red-state Republicans), then most NASCAR fans dislike muslims. Not conclusive, sure. But even bring a sikh to a NASCAR race or, hell, on a plane, and watch the heads turn.

The flaw here is that most Red Staters have no problems with Muslims. We see the WTC attackers as extremists. The "legendary bigotry" of Republicans towards Muslims exists almost exclusively in the minds of bigoted liberals.

[seventy-one]

At 4/11/06 06:15 PM, AreYouSure wrote:
They should blur out the faces of people who don't want to be on the tape? What the fuck? So you wanna catch the reactions of people to a muslim person, but then give them the option of blurring their faces out afterwards?

So we're not allowed to ask people if they want to be labeled as racist to the entire world as part of a news special?

If it had to be staged, then it's not fucking real. If it's not fucking real, don't fucking report it on the news.

Like I said, if it just was a guy walking to down the hallway, and people are acting racist to him, they're not staging anything. Its an actual response from an actual person, its news. .However, like I said if they shove the fact that he's muslim down peoples throats, or make him do random things just for the sake of getting a reaction then its not news.
Their point was to go out and see if there were any anti-Islamic feelings, they filmed a muslim guy and observed what happened, and reported it.

Why do you even want to give any merit to the video?

Let me see it before I give merit, if the report was done the first way I mentioned, with just watching what happens, instead of influencing what happens then I'll give merit to that. But I won't know until I see it.

[Imperator]

Dammit people . . . help me out here.

We tried. It's not our fault people don't have the proper education to tell what an actual experiment is............

Just call em dumbasses, remind them you want your fries super-sized, and go about making the world a better place.

[smith916]

At 4/11/06 08:57 AM, Begoner wrote:

A journalist's job is to observe, PERIOD.

No, their job is also to investigate. This was a good experiment -- the data would have implied something about the way NASCAR fans feel about Muslims. It would have been by no means conclusive, but it would have been a nice first step, and the reactions would have been hilarious to watch on camera.

But that wasn't the point, why did NBC pick nascar instead of something a little bit more popular in the north such as football. Because they want to make a statement about racism. And even if they didn't write about racism, the media is brilliant in how it words things, it's almost like the headlines and story could read, fuck you george bush you sick stupid bastard, without it even being there in the text, it's like magic...

[AreYouSure]

K, I've been kinda confrontational, for that I apologize.

At 4/11/06 06:28 PM, seventy-one wrote:

At 4/11/06 06:15 PM, AreYouSure wrote: Why do you even want to give any merit to the video?

Let me see it before I give merit, if the report was done the first way I mentioned, with just watching what happens, instead of influencing what happens then I'll give merit to that. But I won't know until I see it.

How would the cameras need to be placed in order to not make it obvious they were filming? If our token muslim is just sitting there the whole race, and the cameras are just taping him discretely, how do you recieve permission to air faces of people who've "reacted" to a token muslim at a NASCAR meet? There are tens of thousands of people, and keeping track of them to ask their permission afterwards (without blowing their NBC cover, no less) would be insanely difficult.

And what of the guy who knows a prank when he sees one. "Oh, these guys wanna just come into our weekly sporting event and parade a token muslim around? What a joke. Why watch NASCAR if you aren't a fan? Heh, I bet I could get Jethro to fuck with 'em a bit, have some fun. They can't be serious with this shit."

Just callin em like I see em.

[seventy-one]

At 4/11/06 06:44 PM, AreYouSure wrote: K, I've been kinda confrontational, for that I apologize.

Quite alright.

At 4/11/06 06:28 PM, seventy-one wrote:

Let me see it before I give merit, if the report was done the first way I mentioned, with just watching what happens, instead of influencing what happens then I'll give merit to that. But I won't know until I see it.

How would the cameras need to be placed in order to not make it obvious they were filming?

Hidden cameras, security tapes etc.,

There are tens of thousands of people, and keeping track of them to ask their permission afterwards (without blowing their NBC cover, no less) would be insanely difficult.

You got a good a good point there, what I mean is how, in most reports they single out a guy who was the most racist and then try and talk to him and questions.

And what of the guy who knows a prank when he sees one. "Oh, these guys wanna just come into our weekly sporting event and parade a token muslim around?

But if they're all hiding, the cameras and crew and its just a muslim guy then why would they suspect a prank?

What a joke. Why watch NASCAR if you aren't a fan? Heh, I bet I could get Jethro to fuck with 'em a bit, have some fun. They can't be serious with this shit."

Its possible that its a new fan who just got into the sport. Its not like most NASCAR fans travel across the country (some do) to watch the races, its expected that theres different faces in different cities.

[Imperator]

How would the cameras need to be placed in order to not make it obvious they were filming?

That's an experimenter's job, to make sure everything extraneous is removed and everything else is controlled. The camera being open poisoned whatever results they gathered, and if this "experiment" was subjected to the scientific community, they'd all say the same and throw it out the window.

If our token muslim is just sitting there the whole race

There's another question. The clothes, mannerisms, and look of the alleged Muslim would also affect results. I'm SURE being true "experimenters" that they knew this going into the experiment, so they set up multiple variables and planned on doing the experiment several times to confirm results.........or they were just trying to piss off rednecks and it backfired........

how do you recieve permission to air faces of people who've "reacted" to a token muslim at a NASCAR meet?

Same way you get the people on Cops to view their faces on TV, sign a form.
Otherwise, you blurr their faces.

There are tens of thousands of people, and keeping track of them to ask their permission afterwards (without blowing their NBC cover, no less) would be insanely difficult.

I don't care how difficult, it's not an experiment otherwise. Experimenters have an OBLIGATION to debrief their test subjects, both on any psychological damages they may have incurred and on the true nature of the experiment if deception was used. And that deception has to first be approved by a pannel before they can go ahead with the experiment in the first place.

This is by no means an experiment, nor was it even news. It was a set up situation designed to produce results and ratings.

Just callin em like I see em.

Just call em like I know em, bein edjumacated on that there things and all......

[AreYouSure]

Ah, the voice of reason pleases me.

At 4/11/06 07:30 PM, Imperator wrote: Just call em like I know em, bein edjumacated on that there things and all......

Hopefully now that we've connected enough dots for them, they can stop chewing the crayons and start coloring.

[Ginger-Dave]

At 4/11/06 10:21 AM, JoyDivision wrote: Do you pigheaded americans forget.

What a lovely way to address our friends across the pond...

Its like, why do you never hear about a Muslim on Newgrounds? If you can find me one, I will take that comment back.

MoralLibertarian, seventy-one, arab_freak, marchingtyrants, darklad, ZipLock-Studios, thecrimsonsidewalk, lizard & Quick-Birdi just to name a few. There's even a Muslim Club in the Clubs & Crews section.

But you americans should remeber Muslims are caple of doing anything, such as drive a plain into a building. Imagine what the could do in a NASCAR racing tournement with a bunch of Liberal Patriotic americans shouting "Paki" at them?

1) Some extremist Muslims flew a plane into a building, this does not mean that all Muslims have an anger problem that causes them to be terrorists. Plus, if the muslims were brought there by NBC they would have been warned that they might get abuse.

2) I think you mean conservative, not liberal. Liberals are left wing, whereas the redneck stereotype you're thinking of is right wing. Also, I have never heard of the term "paki" being used anywhere outside of Britain.

What I mean is, American has too many problems.

So do you by the looks of it.

[IllustriousPotentate]

At 4/11/06 06:38 PM, smith916 wrote: But that wasn't the point, why did NBC pick nascar instead of something a little bit more popular in the north such as football. Because they want to make a statement about racism. And even if they didn't write about racism, the media is brilliant in how it words things, it's almost like the headlines and story could read, fuck you george bush you sick stupid bastard, without it even being there in the text, it's like magic...

Exactly. The only reason NBC put this report on is because they were ignorant and bigoted enough to believe in the false stereotype that NASCAR fans are toothless racist hicks.

If this was an experiment, then why was NASCAR singled out? Why not send Muslims to NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL games? Because NBC didn't have a bigoted view of fans of those sports, of course.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a NASCAR fan. If people think the sport is boring or whatever, that's fine. But I don't appreciate or like holier-than-thou people or groups of people that hold the ignorant, stupid view that NASCAR fans are racist, hicks, stupid, or whatever, while ignoring their own prejudice and ignorance.

[MarkyX]

No, their job is also to investigate. This was a good experiment -- the data would have implied something about the way NASCAR fans feel about Muslims. It would have been by no means conclusive, but it would have been a nice first step, and the reactions would have been hilarious to watch on camera.

It's cause of idiots like you that we have bad journalists and that people like me trust some ass's blog over journalists who get paid too damn much.

Investigating is good ONLY if there actually a bigger picture involved. Example would be Watergate.

There was no bigger picture. The only purpose of this "experiment" was to get ratings and put Nascar fans in a bad light. They go with the stereotypical "redneck nascar fan bible thumping" image going and try to cause trouble.

It's rather disguisting that people actually praise this sort of journalist tactics. Whatever happened to reporting the damn news instead of trying to spin an image that does not exist for fucking ratings?

No wonder Bush was voted twice.