Friday, April 08, 2011

Matzav's non-existent loshon hara standards

A Guest Post by Muppet

There's a widely accepted journalistic norm that college athletes should not be publicly criticized. The assumption being that non-professionals, especially young people should not be exposed to the sorts of criticism we throw on professional athletes. This applies even to criticizing athletes for their athletic performance (e.g. this story ) and certainly applies to criticizing their off the field conduct. I'd be shocked if in all of the coverage of the BYU story two months ago, there was anything written anywhere remotely reputable which was critical of the player for having gotten someone pregnant. This really is a universal standard.

Or almost. Today, Matzav printed this. As with most things, Matzav stole the article from a better publication, and has implausible deniability that its not printing this article in order for its readership to heap scorn on a young woman who had the gall to wear shorts in public and honor the Shabbos in a manner that was less than fully halachicly compliant. Nor is there any plausible reason why anyone in the Matzav readership should be discussing this. In other words, what I've learned today is that Matzav has a lower standard for what is and is not lashon harah than every newspaper in America.

DB: I'm not aware of this unwritten rule of journalism, as I do not follow college sports; also, I note that as of 11:30 am there are no comments on the post.

UPDATE 11:57
And here come the negative comments from holy Matzav reader who wish to demonstrate their commitment to Torah and mitzvos by bashing someone else. 

Comment from Ari
I dont want to spoil the party or anything, but playing ball on shabbos and wearing shorts (mistama) are not exactly orthodox. I get the point but not sure Matzav readership is interested.

Comment from What?!
Wow! What a Torah role model! I’m taking my daughters right out of Bais Yaakov and putting them in a basketball program! I can’t wait to reap all the nachas that will come! Thank you MATZAV for printing this Kiddush Hashem article! Every Rov should say this over during their Shabbos Hagadol drasha! I can’t wait to see which Rosh Yeshiva’s son will be zoche to be mishadich with her!

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