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MediaBloodhound: CBS' Kaplan Says Tiger's Injury 'of Major Importance' (6/25/08) by Brad Jacobson

The very night after CBS correspondent Lara Logan told faux-anchor Jon Stewart that, if she "were to watch the news that you hear in the United States—I'd just blow my brains out because it would drive me nuts," Jacobson noticed that "CBS Evening News spent the first four-and-a-half minutes of its broadcast on star golfer Tiger Woods' injury." Jacobson actually got a response on the matter from executive producer Rick Kaplan: "The Tiger Woods injury story was of major importance and we felt we needed to devote time to it as the lead." Jacobson writes that the "statement perfectly underscores the warped priorities of corporate media" that produce the "thin gruel [that] often passes for serious news on network television." Jacobson proves his point:

In addition to subsequent Evening News reports that night on the disastrous floodwaters in the U.S., the debate over offshore drilling and the increasing cases of salmonella poisoning from tomatoes, all of which were deemed less pressing than news Woods had cut short his golf season (a story about a $200 hamburger arguably the only piece less newsworthy), here's a shortlist of stories of the day denied any airtime on the broadcast because Tiger's injury "was of major importance":

Israeli Defense Officials Confirm Ceasefire with Hamas to Begin Thursday
Baghdad Insists on Right to Veto U.S. Operations
Bill Extending Jobless Benefits Is Blocked by GOP
Baghdad Blast Leaves 51 Dead, and the Shiites Call for Revenge
Notes Show Confusion on Interrogation Methods
One-Third of People Shot by Taser Need Medical Attention
Chinese Quake Toll, 69,172, Is Just a Guess
Senators Deny Knowing of Home Loan Favoritism; Senate Ethics Panel Is Investigating


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