Alphecca

Weekly Check on the Bias

Welcome to the (almost) Weekly Check on how the media covers gun issues and the Second Amendment. I suppose you could call this "The Olympic Edition."

NBC has had a lock on the Olympics for many years and their coverage of the various shooting sports has been spotty to non-existent in the past. I'm pleased to see that by utilizing all of the various cable stations they own (Bravo, MSNBC, etc.) they will be showing many of the shooting events at this year's Summer Olympics. Here's their schedule.

And here's the US Olympic Shooting Team:

They've been struggling a bit in the early competition but I'm sure they'll be grabbing some medals as the games continue. The reason all this is a good thing (TV coverage) is because it presents firearms in a good light. Most urban viewers only hear or read about guns when they're used in crime. Now, they get to see what competitive shooting is all about and maybe even be inspired to buy a gun and participate in local events. Most of the Olympic shooting events will appear during the day on MSNBC which is widely available to cable subscribers.

By the way, here's one photo that caught my eye:

Australian Olympian Annette Woodward practices for the 25 meter pistol event in Melbourne July 26, 2004. At 56 years of age, the grandmother from Victoria is the oldest female competitor at the Athens Olympic games. Photo by Stuart Milligan/Reuters

Imagine some mutant breaking into her home and facing her? That is ONE serious shooter and she looks far scarier than Clint Eastwood ever did in any movie he ever made... And she's for real!

Anyway, it's also important to note that the various wire services (especially the AP) have blanketed the Olympics with coverage including that of the shooting sports. Whether big-city newspaper editors choose to pick-up those stories is another matter but I suspect that the editors of the sports pages aren't quite as shy about such matters. That might be a mistake on my part but a perfect example is that even the New York Times is on it:

Du Li, a 22-year-old student, triumphed in the women's 10 meter air rifle competition ahead of rivals from Russia and the Czech Republic to take the first of 13 golds to be won on the opening day of the 28th summer Games...

...Shooter Du began the final round in second place and only moved ahead of leader Lioubov Galkina of Russia on the very last shot after stalking her through the first nine rounds.

Du won with a score of 502.0, including an Olympic record final round of 104.0.

Well, at least on their web site, that's the only "shooting" story the Times has covered as of yet. Yahoo has also been covering events in their sports section such as this AP report:

Olena Kostevych needed an extra shot to win her gold medal. Russia's Alexei Alipov ended the suspense early in his victory. Alipov missed just one target in two days, finishing with a perfect final round on a blustery Sunday to win the gold in trap shooting and tie two Olympic records.

Ukraine's Olena Kostevych takes her final shot to win the women's 10m air pistol finals Sunday, Aug. 15, 2004, in Athens. Kostevych won the gold. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

"The final was difficult," she said. "The other shooters missed some shots due to the wind. But I didn't worry about it."

Kostevych, from Ukraine, won the gold medal in 10-meter air pistol, needing a shoot-off to beat Jasna Sekaric of Serbia-Montenegro in the final.

Kostevych and Sekaric were tied at 483.3 after 10 shots in the final round, and 40 shots in qualifying, setting the stage for a one-shot tiebreaker. Kostevych shot a 10.2 to Sekaric's 9.4 to win the gold.

Rather a casual-looking stance there...

The Mercury News featured a story filed by Detroit Free Press writer Owen Davis (that oddly enough I couldn't locate on the Free Press web site) about American Olympian shooter Emily Caruso:

No Americans won medals Saturday in Olympic shooting, but Emily Caruso came close to reaching the finals in women's 10-meter air rifle.

This is how close she came: One more point out of 40 shots would have put her in the final eight, and she would have had a chance at a medal. Caruso shot 36 perfect 10s and four 9s. The difference in one point is tiny on the electronic targets.

"It's like a hair," said Caruso, from Fairfield, Conn.

Caruso also missed the final in a tiebreaker because her lowest qualifying score came in the last of four rounds. Her scores read like this: 100-99-100-97 for a 396. Almost any other combination would have put her in the final.

A profile piece humanizing the athlete as you read on. Again, no anti-gun bias is creeping into these stories. They're being treated the same as any other sports reporting.

Heck, even the Boston Globe reports on shooting events. And the Seattle Times (no friend to gun owners) had another personal interest story:

Lance Bade didn't cry until he saw his wife crying. They held each other as the Olympic medal presentation for trap shooting went on without him.

"It's disappointing, man," Bade said. "I pride myself on being a finals shooter."

Bade — who is from Vancouver, Wash., and had won a bronze in 1996 — was clearly devastated, both by how he lost a medal and what it would mean to him and his family.

"We were going to buy a house," said Bade, his voice lost in loudspeaker Greek music.

But these were the Olympic Games, the pinnacle of the shooting world. His father, Lance Sr., said a silver medal would have been worth $25,000 from both the Italian company that supplies him guns and the one that supplies him shells. The U.S. Olympic Committee also gives each gold medalist $25,000, another $15,000 going for the silver medal and $10,000 for the bronze medalist.

To someone who has a failing landscape business, these are not insignificant numbers.

"It is what makes it so hard," the 33-year-old Bade said. "You love the sport, you give up everything for it, and then you have a rough day when you need it most."

It goes without saying that no matter what the sport, athletes involved in one-on-one competition feel the greatest joy of victory and the worst agony in losing. India News reports on another disappointment:

Her dreams of an Olympic medal lying in tatters, a "shattered" Anjali Bhagwat says she needs a break to rethink her career in shooting. Anjali, who finished a disappointing 20th in her pet 10m air rifle event yesterday, shied away from the media after her performance but mustered enough courage later in the day to talk to the Indian journalists.

"I''m shattered. It was my best chance to win an Olympics medal. Now, there is going to be nothing but sad memories," said Anjali who had managed to reach the final of the event in the Sydney Games four years ago. "I had worked so hard these past two years. Now I need a break. I have to get away from it all -- maybe for a year -- and think about my career in shooting," she said.

Anjali said her poor show in the first series ruined her chances of making it to the final. "I missed my first shot and thought that my muscles were not really relaxed. I took the second shot in the same manner and missed again. "I suddenly realised that the alignment was not right. And I knew there itself that my chance was gone. At this level, it is very difficult to come back from there," she said.

Anjali got a poor 96 in that first series and could never recover from that. "I tried to focus hard and even had a 100 in the second series. But it was not good enough. It was gone," she said.

There are also stories of the hopeful appearing in newspapers around the U.S. From the (MS) Sun-Herald:

Going to the Olympic Games is old hat for Jones County native Sgt. 1st Class Todd Graves.

Graves, a member of the United States Olympic shooting team, will be making his fourth appearance in the Olympics this week in Athens, Greece. Graves captured the bronze medal in skeet in 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney Australia.

"Winning that medal was one of the greatest thrills of my life," he said.

He made the U.S. Olympic trap and skeet team for the first time in the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain.

"The first time I made it, I was so excited I couldn't stand myself," he said laughing.

After qualifying in the skeet competition for the 1996 games, Graves made the 2000 team, where he became the first U.S. skeet shooter since 1984 to win a medal.

"The competition was pretty intense, but I was able to handle the pressure well," Graves said.

In the 2000 preliminary competition, Graves was able to finish in the top six to reach the finals. He then nailed 122 targets to finish third and claim the Bronze. Mykola Milchev of the Urkaine knocked down all 150 targets to win the Gold Medal and Petr Malek of the Czech Republic got the Silver with 124 points.

"It was just my time," said Graves. "I was moving the gun well and had a good run. I would have been very disappointed if I had not won a medal that day."

Graves, now a resident of Fort Benning, Ga., grew up in Sharon, Mississippi. A 1982 West Jones High School graduate, Graves developed a love for shooting.

"I'm just an old country boy who grew to love it," he said of his shooting prowess.

And we wish him luck.

The Australia Broadcasting Company has always been anti-gun and was in full support of the confiscation of all firearms in the country. Yet even they gush for gold:

Australian shooter Suzanne Balogh has won gold in the women's trap event at the Olympic Games in Athens.

Golden performance....Suzanne Balogh (Getty Images)

The 31-year-old from New South Wales took full advantage of a collapse in form by the top medal contenders in blustery conditions to win from Spain's Maria Quintanal and Lee Bo-Na of South Korea.

"I can't believe it," said Balogh, who took up shooting as a 15-year-old and was taught by her father.

"I'm thrilled, I'm speechless, it's wonderful."

By the way, that photo caption is the ABC's. Funny what happens when the thrill of competition and national pride suddenly grab hold!

And since this edition of the Weekly Report is already laden with photos, here's another:

Russia's Alexei Alipov takes aim during the men's trap shooting final during the 2004 Athens Olympics Sunday, Aug. 15, 2004 in Athens. Alipov won the gold medal with a score of 149 points. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Because you can't have too many pictures of guns and shooters... Anyway, my point in this week's edition is to show that while guns are usually demonized by the press, for a couple of weeks this summer they're receiving favorable treatment. And so am I. This and next week will be devoted to the Olympic Shooting Sports and after that, well, I guess it will be back to the usual gray news about gun-control and the rapidly advancing expiration of the AWB.

Speaking of which, (via InstaPundit) comes this Washington Post story:

It's a cloudy Saturday in August. What's a woman to do?

Yesterday, the answer for 45 women was: Leave the men at home, head for the hills of Loudoun County and learn to shoot.

They came from across the Washington area to gather in the lush woodlands south of Leesburg for a full-day course in skeet shooting, rifle marksmanship, shotgun basics and other outdoor activities. And except for a few instructors, no men were in sight.

"Who doesn't want to shoot guns?" asked Mia Charity, 26, of Leesburg. "It's empowerment."

Charity stood near the rifle range on the sprawling grounds of the Loudoun County chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, where the scent of gunpowder hung heavy in the morning air. As her classmates -- wearing protective goggles and yellow earplugs -- took turns nailing paper targets 20 yards away, Charity showed off the spoils of her first shot ever.

Needless to say, the regular editors of WaPo must be on vacation for a favorable story about women and guns to appear.

* * * * *

Here's what some bloggers are up to:

Garrett (at ME) examines the psychology behind deciding to conceal-carry.

James R. Rummel at Hell in a Handbasket looks at the history behind the .50 caliber bullet.

Geek With a .45 gets (form?) mail from Senator Frist regarding the AWB. I think he's against it...

Les Jones has his gun links up.

Bitter Bitch is questioning the "Buycott" campaign by FMG Publications.

Anyway, I better get this thing posted since people are almost at work and (*ahem*) ready to surf... As always, I appreciate your comments. See you soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Posted by Jeff Soyer at August 16, 2004 08:53 AM