Hoops

Journo alleges Boomers racially taunted Filipino team

Truth and freedom

I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write. ["Je déteste ce que vous écrivez, mais je donnerai ma vie pour que vous puissiez continuer à écrire."]
Attributed to Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), French philosopher, 1694-1778

The facts fairly and honestly presented; truth will take care of itself.
William Allen White American Editor, 1868-1944

A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad.
Albert Camus, French philosopher and journalist, 1913-1960

News reports don't change the world. Only facts change it, and those have already happened when we get the news.
Friedrich Durrenmatt, Swiss author, 1921-1990

News represents another form of advertising, not liberal propaganda.
Christopher Lasch, American historian, 1932- 1994

The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
Thomas Jefferson, American President, 1743-1826

Try to be conspicuously accurate in everything, pictures as well as text. Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it is more interesting.
William Randolph Hearst, American publisher, 1863-1951

The bigger the information media, the less courage and freedom they follow. Bigness means weakness.
Eric Sevareid, American journalist, 1912-1992

If the newspapers of a country are filled with good news, the jails of that country will be filled with good people.
Daniel Moynihan, American politician and diplomat, 1927-2003

We should never overlook how far theories or ideologies that are different from our own can stimulate. It's not what's like what we're thinking, but what's different from what we're thinking which is going to drive thought forward.
Dame Gillian Beer, British academic, b. 1935

The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue.
Edward R. Murrow, American broadcast journalist, 1908-1965

In war, truth is the first casualty.
Aeschylus, Greek dramatist, 525 BC - 456BC

The media

It is a newspaper's duty to print the news and raise hell.
Wilbur F. Storey, American editor, 1818-1884

A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself.
Arthur Miller, American writer, 1915-2005

[A newspaper] comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.
Attributed to Finley Peter Dunne, American writer, 1867-1936

There is a terrific disadvantage in not having the abrasive quality of the press applied to you daily. Even though we never like it, and even though we wish they didn't write it, and even though we disapprove, there isn't any doubt that we could not do the job at all in a free society without a very, very active press.
John F. Kennedy, American President, 1917-1963

Television? No good will come of this device. The word is half Greek and half Latin.
[Attributed to] C.P. Scott, British journalist and publisher, 1846-1932

Television makes so much [money] at its worst that it can't afford to do its best.
Fred Friendly, former president of CBS News, 1915–1998

On journalists and journalism

There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil.
Walter Lippmann, American journalist, 1889-1974

People may expect too much of journalism. Not only do they expect it to be entertaining, they expect it to be true.
Lewis H. Lapham, American publisher and editor, b. 1935

The day you write to please everyone you no longer are in journalism. You are in show business.
[Possibly] Frank Miller, American cartoonist,

Newsmen believe that news is a tacitly acknowledged fourth branch of the federal system. This is why most news about government sounds as if it were federally mandated - serious, bulky and blandly worthwhile, like a high-fiber diet set in type.
P. J. O'Rourke, American journalist, b. 1947

The conflict between the men who make and the men who report the news is as old as time. News may be true, but it is not truth, and reporters and officials seldom see it the same way. In the old days, the reporters or couriers of bad news were often put to the gallows; now they are given the Pulitzer Prize, but the conflict goes on.
James Reston, American journalist, 1909-1995

The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story. So speed and quantity substitute for thoroughness and quality, for accuracy and context. The pressure to compete, the fear somebody else will make the splash first, creates a frenzied environment in which a blizzard of information is presented and serious questions may not be raised.
Carl Bernstein, American journalist and writer, b. 1944

Journalism is literature in a hurry.
Matthew Arnold, British poet and critic, 1822-1888

Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once.
Cyril Connolly, British editor, 1903-1974

The truth is, "What is a journalist?" is one of those questions for which there is no proper answer. The prehistory of modern journalism shows it has been a ragged and confusing trade all the way through.
Andrew Marr, British journalist, b. 1959

Journalism is often simply the industrialisation of gossip.
Andrew Marr, British journalist, b. 1959

We cannot make good news out of bad practice.
Edward R. Murrow, American broadcast journalist, 1908-1965

I have a motto: My job is not to make up anybody's mind but to make the agony of decision making so intense that you can escape only by thinking.
Fred Friendly, former president of CBS News, 1915–1998

What is news?

man bites dog
When a dog bites a man that is not news, but when a man bites a dog that is news.
Charles Anderson Dana, American journalist, 1819-1897

News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.
Lord Northcliffe, British publisher 1865-1922

Well, news is anything that's interesting, that relates to what's happening in the world, what's happening in areas of the culture that would be of interest to your audience.
Kurt Loder, American journalist, b. 1945

Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.
Joseph Pulitzer, American publisher, 1847-1911

News is anything that makes a reader say, `Gee Whiz'!
Arthur MacEwen, American editor,

No one says "Gee Whiz!" very much these days, of course, not even in America — both because that expression has long since been supplanted by others more colourful and less printable, and because our capacity for surprise has long since been dulled by a surfeit of sources.
Shashi Tharoor, Indian writer and diplomat, b. 1956

What you see is news, what you know is background, what you feel is opinion.
Lester Markel, American journalist, 1894-1977

It is hard news that catches readers. Features hold them.
Lord Northcliffe, British publisher 1865-1922

To a journalist, good news is often not news at all.
Phil Donahue, American entertainer, b. 1935

No news is good news.
Ludovic Halevy, French author, 1834-1908

[News is] a first rough draft of history.
Philip L. Graham, American publisher, 1915-1963

For most folks, no news is good news; for the press, good news is not news.
Gloria Borger, American journalist, b. 1952

The real news is bad news.
Marshall Mcluhan, Canadian communications theorist, 1911-1980

News is what a chap who doesn't care much about anything wants to read. And it's only news until he's read it. After that it's dead.
Evelyn Waugh, British author, 1903-1966

Good stories flow like honey but bad stories stick in the craw [gullet]. What is a bad story? It's a story that cannot be absorbed in the first time of reading. It's a story that leaves questions unanswered.
Arthur Christiansen, British newspaper editor, 1904-1963

Hard news really is hard. It sticks not in the craw but in the mind. It has an almost physical effect, causing fear, interest, laughter or shock.
Andrew Marr, British journalist, b. 1959

Never awake me when you have good news to announce, because with good news nothing presses; but when you have bad news, arouse me immediately, for then there is not an instant to be lost.
Napoleon Bonaparte, French Emperor, 1769-1821

Journalism consists largely in saying Lord Jones died to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive.
G.K. Chesterton, British writer, 1874-1936

News reports stand up as people, and people wither into editorials. Clichés walk around on two legs while men are having theirs shot off.
Karl Kraus, Austrian satirist, 1874-1936

A master passion is the love of news.
George Crabbe, British poet, 1754-1832

Probably because its not a thing...

... and someone inevitably said "oh wow" to reverse racism. Like clockwork.

Oh wow, someone actually used “reverse racism” in the thread!!

Yes. Pathetic, isn't it?

An apology after the damage has been done. That dog who was "reporting" should be sacked.

And then you need only look at South Africa under current black rule to see that racism against whites is indeed possible, and a reality there.

ABC News agreed that Basketball Australia should have been given an opportunity to respond to the 'monkey' allegations before they were published in the online story and radio interview, and apologised for the oversight.

— Olgun Uluc (@OlgunUluc) July 11, 2018

Okay, I'm out of this one, too many triggered people with no idea of what life is like for minority groups here or elsewhere.

To clarify, those who are triggered by my use of the words Anglo+white+privileged in the same sentence, it was a generalisation but specific to the topic and relevant to the discussion about us here in Australia because that's how we were settled.

Yes, to the local indigenous community the settlers were considered privileged and in many circumstances remain so.

And, no I am not making a white s against coloured issue, racism here was extended towards European migrants of the same colour too, but I am over this conversation as it is leading to argumentative and defensive posts rather than objective and educated ones...

By the way, I will probably receive flak for suggesting this, but Australian culture is so sensitive to racism that a lot of instances of alleged racism in our media are not actually racist. Racism is about an assumption of superiority, or prejudice, or generalized racial characteristics. Intent matters. Sometimes insults are just intended as personal insults, not necessarily racially motivated insults, regardless of whether or not the same term had been used in the past as racially derogatory. The same applies for supposedly racist acts, like painting faces. Our society has become so sensitive to racism that we hardly scrutinize intent, preferring to outlaw speech or acts that were historically often used by racists, even, sometimes, from outside our own culture.

Why would you assume that only white Anglo live a privileged life and are ignorant, that’s basically saying any other race lives in a lower socioeconomic lifestyle, plenty of your "Anglo whites" are homeless, underprivileged, or blue collar workers,

I have not assumed anything other than for the reader to comprehend what I have written in context, you are the one who has misinterpreted my statement.

It is two sentences, first one is an example, the second one being the context. I never said anything like all white people are privileged, I made that the opening comment based on an example.

Yes, you could replace it with if you are of any colour and creed, live a privileged and ignorant life you could be blissfully unaware of the racism around you, but generally speaking here in Australia where we were settled by Anglo white men, I think it relevant.

Irony aside, you may have taken it out of context my friend...


No not taken out of context as you have used this as your only example, again your assuming if you have a “privileged lifestyle” your ignorant to racism, the fact this country was settled by “Anglo white men and women if we are being perdantic is irrelevant in the context of privilege as those that settled here were far from privileged , and since then Australia has become one of the most diverse countries in the world when it comes to nationalities and cultures.

To say Australia is a racist country based on your analogy of “ the privileged Anglo white Australia “ is ironic considering what constitutes the modern day Australian.

Udog=blissfully ignorant

My work places, my kids school, kindys, my mates are so bloody diverse. Do you even live in Australia?

I have not assumed anything other than for the reader to comprehend what I have written in context, you are the one who has misinterpreted my statement.

It is two sentences, first one is an example, the second one being the context. I never said anything like all white people are privileged, I made that the opening comment based on an example.

Yes, you could replace it with if you are of any colour and creed, live a privileged and ignorant life you could be blissfully unaware of the racism around you, but generally speaking here in Australia where we were settled by Anglo white men, I think it relevant.

Irony aside, you may have taken it out of context my friend...

If you live in a predominantly 'Anglo' white, privileged and largely ignorant society I am sure you are wondering what the heck all this racism stuff is about. Being blissfully ignorant within a multicultural society doesn't quality someone to make an objective and educated comment...


You do realise the irony in your comment here Bear don’t you
What you have just written is also an example of racism in the modern meaning of the word

Why would you assume that only white Anglo live a privileged life and are ignorant, that’s basically saying any other race lives in a lower socioeconomic lifestyle, plenty of your “Anglo whites” are homeless, underprivileged, or blue collar workers,

Rasism is an attitude that people have a position on a social/racial scale and are judged accordingly because of preconceived ideas, rasism is not exclusive just to rich white anglo saxons, it covers a mirage of areas, but it always seems that it’s only ever placed onto one demographic......can you now see the irony ?

As you said yourself, we belong to the human race

@ME, you kind of made your point, then went all Pauline Hanson on us...

Bloody typo's, should read ...qualify...

My point was that the perception we as a nation to the rest of the world is not solely depicted by our population, our government and the way we display our Aussie cultural values on a world stage, along with those policy decisions and views expressed as a nation go a long way to exposing and confirming who and what we are when it comes to sensitive topics like this.

If you live in a predominantly 'Anglo' white, privileged and largely ignorant society I am sure you are wondering what the heck all this racism stuff is about. Being blissfully ignorant within a multicultural society doesn't quality someone to make an objective and educated comment...

A dodgy government from 1901. Give me a break...

We live today. In a modern, multicultural, global society. People are racist. Not a whole population.

The White Australia Policy of 1901 would suggest otherwise @Udog.

The country has evolved, but racism exists everywhere, not just here.

Until we accept we are all one race (the human race), with various cultures, we just have to live with the consequences of our fallibility as humans who have evolved at different rates and towards different ideologies.

It is too complex a topic to tackle on a forum, especially where so many are just exposing their own lack of understanding of it...

If one person in a country's whole population is racist then you have racism in your country. Racism is an unfortunate human condition. Saying a "country" is racist seems a bit ignorant to the global reality.

What I find in all this is total hypocrisy across the board when the “racism” flag is raised, if you refer to someone as black, your racist, but not if you refer to someone as white your not. Same goes for religion, god forbid you chastise the Muslim religion, but it’s ok that everyone else is an infidel .
The same goes for name calling, IF an Aussie player did ( which I highly doubt) call one of the Filipino players a monkey , do you honestly think they would not respond with their own slur, the issue is, most people can understand more words in the English language than they will ever understand in a nationality they do not live within.

I have Greek Italian, and Maltese friends and relatives (by marriage )they can swear and say thing I would never understand, but they all understand what I say.


Actions speak much louder than words, the actions of this Filipino team spoke volumes as to just who was the aggressor in all this and it certainly wasn’t the Australians.

Having observed racism at different levels, experienced it through a life time of being involved in multicultural Australia both directly and indirectly while maturing during a time of political correctness and what many can see as a change in religiosity around the globe due to technology; I can only smirk at the simplistic efforts some are presenting to quantify or justify the Australian culture of sledging.

"Of course there is racism in Australia, we have people from China and Japan, Serbia and Croatia, Turkey and Armenia, England and Ireland, Israel and many Arab countries, as well as our own homegrown issues. It is impossible not to have racism with that mix and more."

You don't need any old enemies to breed racism. Most of it comes from ignorance.

Anyone else up for spamming the ABC with calls today?

http://about.abc.net.au/talk-to-the-abc/feedback-and-enquiries/complaints-process/

Is that comment relevant to the article claiming the players made racist remarks though.

Tracey Holmes was in the Philippines a few months ago as part of some sort of women in jounalism thing. Obviously made some new mates. It's a good job beause she hasn't got any mates in this country anymore.

Not really. ME is spot on.

She should be sacked. The worst thing is WE pay for her (taxpayers). Yuck.

While I disagree with "deserves constant abuse", I like how Casey and others have engaged her.

Please stop calling Tracy Holmes a journalist. It's an insult to journalists everywhere

Could well be some grey areas in the middle between ABC and BA. e.g., she called for interview or comment. He took it to be about a more general thing and couldn't justify an interview so declined. She took that to mean no comment on the racial comment angle, and then went with the story. However, if you approached for comment, I would've thought you'd note that it was rebuffed in the story.

Not sure why he'd say that it hadn't been investigated unless there was more ambiguity there? Surely you'd at least put it to the coach/manager to check and say that you had done so?

LOL at a former basketball coach becoming CEO of a sports network. Only in the third world.

So this ABC worm's logic is because Anthony Moore didn't want to speak with her it means Boomers = racist? Wow really?

There's a few assumptions in that. That Thon was always near them. That Thon would take offense at a racist remark against Filos. That Thon (or others) consider "monkey" to be racist. We've heard time and time again people try to deflect racism charges by saying they don't think monkey or ape etc are racist terms.

Again, I believe these accusations are entirely false, but the "I wouldn't say a racist thing because I have a guy who isnt white in my team" is not a good argument.

Donald Sterling had plenty of black athletes around him, how'd that go for him?

hmmm, clearly I am no good at using the right brackets.

That last line should be:

I just find this up there with "I can't be racist because I have a (insert ethnicity) friend".

Response from the ABC reporter in question:

To be clear, first person I spoke to about racism allegations was a very senior person @basketballaus last Friday who declined an interview & said allegations were not being investigated. Spoke to him again yesterday asking for this lie to be corrected. Lawyer’s letter next. https://t.co/sTcxcsewrb

— Tracey Holmes (@TraceyLeeHolmes) July 9, 2018

This ‘senior person’ at Basketball Australia was Anthony Moore, I’m told. My understanding is that he declined to appear on Tracey’s show, before other issues (including racism) were discussed. The key question: were the specific claims discussed? I’m told they were not. https://t.co/heRAoJSnjE

— Olgun Uluc (@OlgunUluc) July 10, 2018

Well said Bear. I find the ABC and SBS useful news sources too but agree with the ABC leaning too far to the left.

I did find it interesting that John Casey stepped in to call Tracey Holmes out for breaching ABC's own editorial standards and suggesting an apology should be forthcoming.

Nice to see one of basketballs most respected commentators getting involved. I remember many years ago he stood up for the NBL when a columnist called "Leapin Larry" writing for the Age I think critised the NBL unfairly.

^that was me...

Boti Nagy's take is an interesting one, I agree with most of it, however will still be waiting for more interviews and information with anticipation.

1. He is right to say Aussie sport has a history of trash talking, he is also right that the racist card is almost certainly a false flag in this case.

2. He is right in making a point that little incidents and aggravations pre-game and during the game were boiling over to a point where something like this larger incident was likely inevitable.

3. He is right to suggest that the officials were not in tune with what was going on or just ignoring it, which compounded the situation and there must be some blame pointed their way in the post game review.

4. The ABC bashing however appears to be as broadly brushed as the allegations against the Aussies he is defending and maybe he could be more to the point in blaming the actual journalist and those responsible for misreporting and not just ABC bash.

I actually find the ABC and SBS very important news sources, slightly contrarian to other main stream media and, yes, sometimes a little too far left, however if we are going to resent these 'scatter gun' or 'mud will stick' media reports from the ABC we should also respond accordingly and not resort to the same tactics.

Boti's take:

http://www.botinagy.com/blog/melees-in-manila-as-easy-as-abc/

Maybe they were being racist against us which caused the brawl...

and yes Lemanis does seem a bit autistic at times...

From now on I look forward to this rivalry.

Should blow them out by 50pts+ every game as a lesson.

It's what the pinoy gangstas do:

https://youtu.be/IpRitE7FMCk