Media lets anonymous racists attack black athletes like Lamar Jackson

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Why does media let anonymous sources keep attacking Black athletes?

IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel has a problem with media using anonymous sources to question the intellect and work ethics of Black athletes.

Gregg Doyel, Indianapolis Star

It’s worse than you think, the way anonymous cowards keep ripping the attitude or work ethic or, I dont know, intellect of Black athletes. We’ve seen that happen directly in the past week to Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and, indirectly, to Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray. Weve seen it happen in the past to Kentucky guard Eric Bledsoe, South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney and too many more.

Sick and tired of seeing it, but as I say, it’s worse than what you think.

It’s also this: The media allowing it to happen.

The discussion to follow will involve race and nuance, and those two dont mix well. Bring up race, bring up racism, and some people forget how to read. They forget how to understand. Instead, perhaps feeling defensive themselves can’t imagine why they start screaming and shouting:

But what about!

Sick and tired of that, too.

Why print anonymous racist attack on Jadeveon Clowney?

Heres the thing about the anonymous quote that ran this week in The Athletic, dismissing the accomplishments of 2019 MVP Lamar Jackson as an athlete but not a quarterback:

We didnt have to write that. The media, I mean. We didnt have to write it.

Talking specifically to you, The Athletic: You didn’t have to write that. But you did. Did you even think about what was happening, what was being said, what would happen next, what it all meant?

Quick, someone, say what you want to say:

But what about!!!

What about, someone DID say it!

Don’t care. An anonymous quote about a fact is one thing. An anonymous quote about a feeling, an opinion, especially an opinion that sounds like bigotry? Thats something else.

Also: Just because someone tells us something prefaced by the tantalizing, Now, dont use my name, but we dont have to print it. Do you understand? Theres no rule that says salacious comments must always be used.

You know what is being used? The media. Hate to break this to you, but the world is full of racists. Theyre all over the place, in all lines of work, and some of those people have things to say: Awful things, messages they want delivered to the world at large. Not with their name on it, obviously. So they tell these things to a reporter.

And by golly, we print it. Some examples:

On Baylor QB Robert Griffin III before the 2012 NFL Draft: “I don’t think he has vision or pocket feel … He’s just running around winging it.” Also: He doesn’t treat anybody good.”

On Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple in 2016: The kid has no life skills. At all. Can’t cook.”

On South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney in 2014: Hes spoiled, and hes lazy. Hes never worked hard a day in his life, now all of a sudden youre going to give him a bunch of money and expect him to work hard. I dont see it.

Dog whistles come no louder.

Racism is ignorance, we all know that. So heres something unknown by the ignorant scout who ripped Eli Apples life skills including his cooking ability or the ignorant reporter who printed it:

Eli Apple surely learned something about cooking from his father…

… a retired five-star chef.

You can’t make this up.

Kyler Murray’s clause, Eric Bledsoe’s transcript

The Kyler Murray story happened organically, almost accidentally, not maliciously. Thats what weve been told, and honestly, I can accept that.

While NFL contracts are not public record, NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport, who broke the story, says he has access to them from certain sources. Thats believable; Rapoport breaks a ton of news. He says he accessed Murrays contract to look for a potential baseball clause Oakland drafted Murray ninth overall in the 2018 MLB Draft when he stumbled onto the clause requiring Murray to spend four hours a week studying film on his own.

Sounds innocent enough, the way the story broke.

The clause itself? Not innocent at all, especially in a league so overtly racist that the NFL had to literally make it a rule requiring teams to interview Black candidates for top jobs. While the interview process is more diverse now, the hires still are not: In a league with rosters composed of roughly 70% people of color, there are just six such coaches (18.9.4%), and seven such general managers (21.9% ).

Were the Cardinals being subconsciously racist when they wrote that clause about the work ethics of their Black QB? Can’t tell you that. Can tell you know this: The six men with the most input in that thought process the franchises owner, GM, head coach and tri-offensive coordinators are white. All six of them.

These are sensitive stories that require care and context and discretion, but too often in the media we dont worry about any of that. Sometimes this job requires more than merely writing what we know, and letting the chips fall where they may.

But what about!!!!

What you wrote about Carson Wentz!!!

Its true, I offered to drive Wentz to the airport before his one season even began. Its true hes white. Its also true I put my name on that, didnt use anonymous sources, just wrote my opinion. There will be people who use my story about Wentz to defend a white reporter letting a white anonymous source rip a Black quarterback. Not sure what to say to anyone who does that, beyond: Bless your heart.

One of the worst stories Ive ever seen happened to Eric Bledsoe in 2010. I hate even sharing this now, reintroducing it to the conversation, and hope Bledsoe will forgive me and understand that Im trying to help prevent what happened to him, and to Lamar Jackson and Jadeveon Clowney and more, from happening again.

Bledsoe, you might recall, played one season at Kentucky for John Calipari. Someone who clearly doesnt like Calipari, a competing coach who apparently recruited Bledsoe hard enough to know what was in his high school transcripts in Birmingham, Ala., leaked a copy of that transcript in 2010 to a New York Times reporter.

The story that emerged painted Bledsoe in a terrible light, and did so with too much innuendo and not nearly enough hard proof that should be required by our country’s so-called newspaper of record to attack the intellect of a teenager. The NCAA did nothing to Kentucky, because the school board in Birmingham found no proof of what the anonymous source and what the Times reporter who ran with it tried so hard to say: that Eric Bledsoe didnt belong in college.

But what about!!!!

The IndyStar uses anonymous sources!!!

Of course we do. You have no idea how much were told. You have no idea, because we dont use most of it. Either we cant, or for whatever reason we simply dont. Anonymous sources speaking in obvious good faith, offering information that will enhance your understanding of a story? You damn right Ill use that. Because everybody wins.

An anonymous source speaking with suspect motivations, used by reporters to question the work ethic or intellect of a Black athlete? Listen to me, media: Stop using that. Because youre being used, you fool.

And everybody keeps losing.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.

More: Join the text conversation with sports columnist Gregg Doyel for insights, reader questions and Doyel’speeks behind the curtain.

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