Racial Issues

There has been about one post in the history of Metacricket that has touched on a serious socially viable topic, well I have decided to add on to our list of posts on things that actually matter and shit.
We've all probably heard about the rape allegations made against Ben Roethlisberger in recent days. I am not here to debate on whether Roethlisberger did or did not sexually assault the accuser (obviously I hope he didn't for the sake of everyone involved and the fact that I've always kinda liked Big Ben), but rather I'd like to discuss the strange lack of coverage exhibited by the worlds largest sports media outlet, ESPN. These allegations were first made public this past Tuesday, and one would think that this bombshell of an accusation made against a superstar NFL quarterback would be front page news for the media giant ESPN. That, however, was not the case. For two days the story was left unreported on all ESPN mediums. Blogs and other news outlets reported the story as expected, and ESPN explained their neglect with this statement.

"At this point, we are not reporting the allegations against Ben Roethlisberger because no criminal complaint has been filed. As far as we know, this is a civil lawsuit that Roethlisberger has yet to address publicly."

A shady explanation that contradicts the past actions of this particular institution. ESPN was quick to report on the civil sexual harassment suits filed against two black sports figures, Isiah Thomas and Shannon Brown. ESPN finally began to cover Ben's story, today, after his denial of the claim. This privilege of waiting for the athlete's explanation was not granted for Isiah or Shannon. It's just unfortunate that these glaring contradictions in coverage occur, and are so obviously divided by race. I'm not trying to say that Roethlisberger's story was held back for the sole reason that he is white and that the story would have been immediately reported if the accusations had been made against Donovan McNabb, but ESPN's negligence merely perpetuates the (sometimes verified) belief that racial bias still exists in the media. All of this comes at a time when race relations have been brought to the forefront of the national spotlight after black Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested trying to get into his own home. That particular story has since turned into a polarizing decision of whose story you choose to believe, the professor's or the police officer and is not something I want to delve into. At a time where our country's leader is part African-American perhaps ESPN shouldn't be giving people reason to believe that athletes in this country will be given the benefit of the doubt due to the lightness of their skin.