Kind of amazing that these things were apparently said, and said repeatedly, yet he never once saw a particular mouth move in unison to the words. Seems to me that he wants to give the impression it happened but is too bloody gutless to try and pin it on any particular player.

And then there's ABC, the bloody useless organization they are, taking this flimsy story and running with it. It fits right in with their daily quota of "straight white male racism" shame porn that they love to bludgeon us with every day. Forget the fact that it makes no sense for the team to call them monkeys right in front of Thon Maker, their African teammate. Forget that you have NO evidence whatsoever outside of "something something well.. I think I heard it not sure". Just run the story, tarnish the reputation of 12 sportsmen, don't even seek them out in an interview to defend themselves, all in the name of today's racism outrage clickbait. What the ABC did in this instance was fucking disgusting.

Meanwhile, the Philo team will be dropping a documentary called "brotherhood" on the brawl in the coming days. Apparently they beleive the word "brotherhood" suits their activities more than, say, "MS13" or "filthy street gang". We're being inundated in their media with propaganda befitting the North Korean regime in its lack of balance and downright delusion from the Gilas. And meanwhile we're having that team besmirch our name with baseless accusations solely because they want to drag us into the gutter with them. The situation has gone absolutely our of hand. And I will be very angry if both ABC doesn't publicly apologise, and if the Gilas are not stripped of their right to compete at the next world cup and the right to host the one after that.

Agree 100% me!
This is straight out of the Donald trump play book say something without saying it, to try and create a public perception that can be denied later on.

Always pull out the race card! What a disgrace the Phillos are!

The fact that the President if the TV network producing and airing that documentary is the Head Coach of the Filipino team speaks volumes.

Surely all this crap is going to make things worse with FIBA for them?

That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.

Just seen the ABC reporting and its disgraceful!

All baseless and fake news reporting of the propaganda coming from the Phillipines who have a clear agenda.

The ABC have certainly missed the mark and appear happy to just shoot of the old we must be racist to make these poor people react this way! What a joke the ABC have become.

You mean the article or have they been stupid enough to keep the story running with a new TV spot?

Spot on on all accounts ME.

Link to the documentry's trailer

https://t.co/qsRUp2FAWN?amp=1

Director was our very own Carl, probably.

Well said ME. My thoughts exactly.

"The rest is complete drivel."

You obviously don't follow the ABC's Twitter, Facebook feeds, or watch the show. If they can find a reason to bitch about those evil white men, they will do it, so this Boomers story was like catnip for them.

And I suppose you're in support of the brotherhood documentary?

I'm going to watch it but I will have the Ambo on standby incase it gives me an aneurysm.

"Not sure why you decided to turn it in to an exercise of painting yourself as a victim of the ABC bashing you."

Umm, because that is why they were so gung ho about throwing the article out without fact checking it, maybe?

Just scroll through their Facebook please.

Well shit is hitting the fan for "our" ABC with articles coming out saying that even Chot Reyes, the Philo coach, doesn't believe the Australians were calling anyone monkeys. Gees, a second of investigation from the dumb bird who wrote the article would have unearthed that.

"Doesn't mean she has an anti-white male agenda"

Once again, just scroll ABC Facebook for FIVE FUCKING MINUTES. If your replaced the words "white male" for "Jews" it would sound like 1930s Nazi propaganda.

"Long story short they got offended for being called out for something. When they realised they had no comeback they pulled the race card. Luckily for me the organiser of the event knew me very well and told him to leave after listening to his BS.

At that particular point in time it is a horrible feeling being falsely accused of racism. It's just so easy to say "racist!" when you have no other outs vs. someone white. Feel for the Boomers."

It is always the race card and ABC are the masters of validating it. A white person cannot have a genuine grievance of someone of another race without it coming it. It's to the point where now we are told we are subconsciously racist through "unconscious bias", and the like. Really, the whole thing has gone well out of control. And the media, academia, and the places that buy into these narratives and spread them are to blame.

As I said, ABC COULD NOT WAIT to get this story out.

ABC seems to be running lately by "Don't let the truth get in the way of a good headline".
Q&A and numerous other shows have justifiably come under the pump over last couple of years

ABC seems to be running lately by "Don't let the truth get in the way of a good headline".
Q&A and numerous other shows have justifiably come under the pump over last couple of years

Well obviously I have a way of talking dramatically and I don't mean that it is like Nazi propaganda in literal terms.

Until FIBA bans them, I'm still waiting on my military strike.

@ME, while I think the ABC do sometimes shoot for a very left wing angle on their stories, it serves no one when we over react.

Isn't an over reaction the very thing we are pointing at that caused this whole thing to blow up in the first place?

The whole 'white privilege', 'resort to the race card' argument is a very subjective one and although it probably could have been in some way in the mix of reasons why this happened, it can't be the main reason. At least I sincerely hope it wasn't!

There are cultural differences between the two countries, obviously, yet something appears to have forced an over reaction, then another and then another.

The truth usually comes out, I do agree that if the ABC are going to run with a story which is lacking in credibility and accuracy while looking to create partisan views and media sensationalism it should be called out.

But no need to go on another over reactionary rant which only appears to display your own anger and frustration mate, be better than that...

Fair points Bear

Filipino coach is calling the racial taunt story "fake news". ABC erred in not getting comment from the Australian team, let alone airing without investigating further.

It was the second encounter actually. Chot Reyes said they didnt react because it was a blow out because they've had them before, but I don't know that they've faced a team playing full court defense up 31 and playing like the game is still in the balance before. If a team blows you out but gives you some slack because it is no longer competitive, that's one thing. But when a team runs an absolute clinic on you and doesn't even give you space to breathe, and basically everything is going wrong for you, it's another. The underhanded way they reacted has as much to do with their notion of pride as anything else, and I believe full court, rugged D while down 30 is their concept of "dirty play"

I'd prefer that the Boomers always put their foot on their throats. They will face better teams who will be able to come back from those deficits in future and this is prep for that.

The Australian Bullshit Channel and Facebook , never a good combination or individually.

It's what the pinoy gangstas do:

https://youtu.be/IpRitE7FMCk

This is not just an ABC issue, it happens throughout the media. Any story that has offense, in particularly racism, attached to it, gets so many more clicks and attention. These types of claims of racism will always be a hot issue and perfect click-bait masquerading as journalism.

As for Gilas fans, there is a large proportion that are very keen to inject race into the debate. Very early on in social media, Australians who were criticising the role of the Philippines in the brawl were accused of racism. All it took was criticism from a perceived white person to be considered racist. Also a lot of comments about white arrogance, white supremacy, bullying etc. Playing the race card is the easiest way to get victim status, which was a fundamental strategy to justify the brawling Gilas players.

Playing the race card is so boring and lame!!

Phils coach has his balls in the vice and is under enormous pressure to downplay everything. Of course he is going to deny it. That's the play here, toe the party line, and hope to keep your job.

As for the allegation that Australians were involved in sledging, the unfortunate truth is that given our history as a sporting nation, that kind of mud is always going to stick.
Certainly, in the absence of any definitive proof, I'd put money on it being true more often that not, and unfortunately unscrupulous journos can rely on the same probability.

Unfortunately, we Australians have the habit of talking trash, without malice, and others taking it more seriously. I'd like to hope that our guys were smart enough to not use an epithet like "Monkey" but who knows.

As for the ABC, their role is to present the contrarian, minority, or oppositional view. Many would argue that its an important function in our society.
Personally I don't give a rats arse, but yes you are always going to find an ABC journo on the "other side" of such issues. If you don't like it, don't watch the ABC.

You can't just assume it happened without evidence because other teams from Australia have done it. I doubt those Australian teams had an African starting center and litany of other African-American-Australians in their programs. I doubt there is a culture of racism that virulent on our boomers team. And for as long as there is no evidence for it, I will not be buying it.

Boti's take:

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

I hate the insinuation that all Aussie teams are arrogant because of their sledging (trash talk). Let's be real a bit of banter/ talking trash happens in pretty much every professional basketball game around the globe. Even LeBron and curry were at the finals, Chris Paul mimicking Steph, dramond green almost never stops talking. It’s been going on forever Jordan, Reggie, Barkley, pippen and will continue to be part of the culture of the game.

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.

^that was me...

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.

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'd agree with what you've said on this so far.

Loving Case's comments on all of this on Twitter. Good to see him step up here.

Can I just ask for one thing as a group though. The "our guys wouldn't say racist things because they have a black team mate" thing. It has to stop.

There's enough examples of sports people over the years making racist remarks despite having team mates of that ethnicity. It happened regularly in the past with AFL players towards Aboriginal players. It happens in South American football with black players.

Now, to be clear, I have no reason to believe these allegations are anything but made up to try to justify the actions of the Filos, I just find this up there with "I can't be racist because I have a friend".

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".

It's not even about having a black friend. As for AFL, how big are the fields? I doubt they're saying racist shit when standing right next to their black team mate. If they were saying racist things in front of Thon, I dare say he would have heard.

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?

Cram, I had the same thoughts about the 'Thon is a teammate, therefore wouldn't use the term 'monkey'' excuse. It is not logical.

The accusations are suspect because:
- the accuser couldn't identify any players who said the racist term
- the accuser could only specify the use of one word, "monkey"
- the accuser was, initially, not identified, why?
- perhaps because the accuser works for ESPN5/TV5, the network that Gilas coach Chot Reyes will soon head as CEO
- circumstantially, throughout the week the Gilas were working hard to spin the issue to become the victim (for example, Reyes was naming Kickert as the agitator pre-game, completely ignoring the triggers by his own players).
- Had the journalist been informed of the context of the claims, noticed the reactions of Gilas fans, the tendency to pull out the race card from nowhere, watched the spin on TV5, the fake news generated (for example, Goulding Twitter screenshot) to implicate Boomers players as guilty, she may have realized that the accusations should be placed under more scrutiny.
- Reyes had suggested news of racism by the Boomers was "fake news", prior to the story being published by Tracey Holmes
- there were no reports provided by Gilas players or coaching staff suggesting that any Boomers made racial taunts; had such comments been made, surely the Gilas would forward these accusations on to FIBA, with coach Reyes being informed of this.

All of this suggests that the journalist should be highly suspicious of her source. Instead of offering an apology for her lazy journalism, she appears to be deflecting, threatening the use of lawyers to counter BA's statement that they were not informed prior to publication.

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?

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

I think he said he didn't investigate it because it's not worth investigating. It was a stupid claim with nothing to even back it up, so why investigate it?

Tracey basically took the least credible person with the least credible claim to make a sensationalistic half-baked story that inadvertedly shamed a group of players at a time where things couldnt be more rocky for them. She deserves constant abuse until she publicly sets the record straight.

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

"You can't just assume it happened without evidence because other teams from Australia have done it."

Umm, yeah, that's exactly what happens.

This isn't a court of law, its public opinion, and the simple facts are:
Australian Sporting teams have a poor history of sledging, and indeed some take pride in their ability; and
Australians generally talk, and take the piss, in ways that others are overly sensitive to.

Also the idea that an Australian wouldn't use a term, that others find racist, because they have a black team-mate, is completely wrong.
What people (including the rest of the world) fail to understand is that modern Australians are not racist. We work, live, and love with people all over the racial spectrum. But we are also flippant and irreverent. If they heard my mate talk about Wogs, they'd be appalled, until they realised he's talking about His people.
Now as I said, I'd hope our guys would be smart enough to not use inflammatory epithets that others would find offensive but who knows.

And I come back to the point, that the issue is not whether anyone can prove these claims, the issue is whether it is believable.

But lets be honest, you could foresee this coming a mile off. Its far to easy to deflect attention by playing the race card.
Maybe the Philippines will hire Joey Wright as their next coach.

ME is my entertainment in an otherwise humdrum day

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.

There's plenty more to Australian racism than being flippant or irreverent.

There's plenty of real racism, both overt and conscious and subtle and subconscious. I've seen it all my life from people of all walks of life.

Now, this isn't saying that it is necessarily worse than other countries, and certainly not saying it was the case in Manila. But pretending it doesn't exist doesn't help either.

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

My comment? It was in response to AD's claim that Australians aren't racist, people just don't understand us.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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...

"Are you trying to paint white people as victims here?"

Are you trying to say white people can never be victims? Clearly white people are the only ones who can't speak freely on these issues without ramifications. I mean, Sonia Kruger only suggested that MAYBE a ban on Islamic immigration COULD be something to think about and she's being sent to a human rights tribunal. It is very easy to flash a race card and have whites forcibly kowtow to it no matter how justified their concerns may be. So are whites victims here? Well... decide for yourself how you'd identify a group that literally created the modern world, gets no credit, but is blamed for every single wrong on the planet and told to shut uip whenever they take issue with anyone else.

"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."

Yep, racism is everywhere. People naturally have a preference for their own group. The reasons you don't hear so much about racism in most of the world is because most of the world doesn't buy into multiculturalism. But in instances where there is mixed racial breeding in Asia, they're known to be victims of startling racism. 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. Funnily enough the extent of any country's racism can pretty much be measured on its diversity. The more diversity, the more incidence of racism. But the less diversity also implies a certain racism for excluding different groups. The whole planet has racism but it seems the only time people get in a twist about it is when it is white people.

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

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

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

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...

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

"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"

Why do you need to specify 'white' or 'privileged' or even 'ignorant society'? If you have ever lived *anywhere* as a minority group, you will experience racism, to varying degrees. If you have lived *anywhere* as a majority, your perception of racism will differ greatly to minorities. The fact that Australian culture actually calls out racists within their own ranks makes it far less ignorant than most other cultures on Earth.

To link this to the Boomers-Gilas drama, the most startling thing I noticed from reading majority Philippino social media was, even among the cries of Australians being racist, without specifying how, there were a LOT of racist statements made by Filipinos against Australians without any Filipinos calling them out.

A multicultural society will naturally appear to experience more racism than a monocultural society simply because there are more cross-race interactions. But if you have ever lived as a minority in a monocultural society, you would find that there is typically a far larger proportion of people with racist attitudes, to varying degrees. It's a kind of tribalism.

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.

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,

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...

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

Am I right in noticing that the ABC only apologised for not following ABC guidelines? They are not apologising for the story. They are not suggesting the allegation is unfounded; they are just saying that BA should have been consulting prior to publishing it.

John Casey tweeted: "To their credit @abcnews has issued an apology to @BasketballAus & @AusBasketballPA for the unfair and one-sided story on the Boomers - over to you @TraceyLeeHolmes".

Not sure if he has seen the apology, assumes the apology encompasses the actual story, or if the "unfair and one-sided story" part of the tweet is his own commentary.

Not sure what all the hate directed to the ABC is about. Their job is to report on the news. The Filipino journalist claiming the Boomers used racial slurs is news. Whether it is true or not is beside the point - it's not like the ABC are taking a stance either way.

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

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

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

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

It's the source of the allegations, and such a narrow focus on a cheap and sensational story, that makes it seem like lazy and irresponsible journalism. Tracey Holmes might think she can hide behind the idea it is presented as allegations, not facts, but a good journalist might consider delving deeper into the allegations as a duty of care. These aren't trivial allegations. Even allegations will stick as fact in a lot of people's minds. There are a lot of reasons to question the credibility of this story.
- No specific player is mentioned by the source
- Only a word is mentioned, no mention of any discernible context, makes you wonder if this photographer is a reliable source.
- The photographer's company of employment raises a big red flag
- This story isn't coming from any players or coaches, which surely would be expected had any Boomers players really directed racial slurs at them. Did Tracey Holmes think to ask any of the Gilas players or coaches? Of course, she also conveniently missed the fact that the Philippines coach denied it happening prior to her story.

The fact that she didn't seek BA for specific comment on the allegation is one of her least concerning acts of irresponsibility.

Tracey Holmes just wanted to quickly get her sensational headline out, with a reckless allegiance to the credibility of the story. If it turned out to be not true, she could offer the excuse "I'm reporting allegations, not facts" and think she can wipe her hands clean.

I don't deny these points you raise rjd. But let's not pretend that the ABC is worse than any other mainstream media outlet when it comes to such reporting. Should we expect better journalism when it comes to our public broadcaster? Probably. But let's not pretend it is part of some 'tree hugging anti male left leaning' agenda as one poster stated. The reality is the ABC are under the same time and resource pressures as the other outlets - and that is a shame.

"Whether it is true or not is beside the point"

...What?!?