Not To Beat A Dead Horse But...
By Keith Boykin, in sports
Tuesday, January 30 2007, 11:19AM
The news yesterday afternoon was shocking. At 12:59, CNN sent me a "breaking news" email alert. I opened the email, stunned by what I read inside: "The Associated Press reports Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was euthanized this morning, according to one of the horse's co-owners." Wait a minute, I thought to myself. That's it? That's the breaking news? I mean I understand it's a very rare horse that can win America's most celebrated horse race, and I know there's a lot of money to be made off of this animal, but still. It's a horse. Is this really breaking news?
Let me say upfront that I have nothing against horses. My grandfather used to own a horse, which passed to my father when my grandfather died. I remember going to the horse ranch out in the country to ride the horse a few times when I was a young child. Ever since that time, I have always loved horses and horseback riding. I'm not sure if the horses love it, but when the horse really starts to gallop, there's an exhilarating connection between man and animal. But as much as I love horses, I can't understand why a horse would get more news coverage than a human.
Why Is This Breaking News?
That's why I'm still not sure why this horse story is breaking news. Unfortunately, I was not watching CNN on television at the time the story broke, but I wonder if they broke into the regular news to announce that Barbaro was dead. That seems a stretch to me. But maybe I just don't understand the news.
Maybe breaking news isn't really about major news but just "new" news. After all, in the 24/7 news cycle, CNN, Fox and MSNBC have to compete with each other every second of the day for viewers. One way to do that is to make a big deal out of every story. I've seen car crashes covered on CNN before too, but those were usually labeled as "developing" stories instead of "breaking news."
But it's not just the TV news networks that played up the story. The New York Post ran the story, "Barbaro's Final Tragic Hours" on the front cover today, with a picture of the horse peering out beneath the masthead. Both the Post and the Daily News, the city's other tabloid, ran the story as the lead on their sports section, which seems to me where the story appropriately belongs.
News Is In the Eye of the Beholder
Maybe news is just like beauty, in the eye of the beholder. After all, when I told a colleague of mine yesterday that I was going to appear on the Paula Zahn show last night on CNN, he sent back a terse email message. "They just won't let the [Isaiah] Washington story go away will they? You would think there weren’t serious matters of public concern to debate."
Poor little old me, I was just sitting there thinking that racism and homophobia were important stories to debate. Even if the Isaiah Washington story had been overblown, the underlying story of prejudice is never ending in America. But once again, what is news may be in the eye of the beholder.
Which brings me back to Barbaro. To be honest, I think it's fine if the news media cover the death of a famous racehorse. But what I don't think is fine is that the same media don't cover the deaths of young black men and women in their own backyards.
I could be wrong, but I don't remember seeing many front page stories when Michael Sandy died last year. And I don't recall Fox News or the 24/7 news networks putting out a breaking news alert with Sean Bell was killed. And I certainly don't remember Nancy Grace spending months of airtime trying to track down missing black kids.
So go and cover the race horses, but don't forget that real humans have real stories to be told that often go ignored because of journalistic fatigue. It would be nice if the media would one day cover our stories as zealously as they jumped on the Barbaro story. But when will that happen?
Well, don't hold your horses.
Comments conceal
Kenneth Winfrey![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.keithboykin.com/blog2/nav-commenters.gif)
January 30 2007, 12:25PM
Revelation No 1: "One way to do that is to make a big deal out of every story"
News shows sell advertising for reporting the "important" news, not just plain ole' "news." Simply put: hype pays the bills in the business of American journalism....
Revelation No 2: "News Is In the Eye of the Beholder"
One recent and compelling expample is when the publicist for Shirly Q. Liquor wrote on Jamyne Cannick's blog
"The fans and myself find it HYSTERICALLY funny all the time you put into this nonsense, when there are bigger issues to be faced (War, Terrorism, Unemployment, Homelessness)."
bubba
January 30 2007, 1:49PM
I definitely wondered how this horse could make headlines while Jasmyne's predicament goes ignored by the black/gay bloggers. Even this site only gave her a sidebar. Less activism? I believe it.
Bernie
January 30 2007, 2:50PM
News is in the eye of the beholder, and the news decision-makers, who are overwhelmingly white, male, and middle class, are born with a sensibility different from those who are not white, male and middle class. What they think is important is usually different from what we think.
Having said that, what does make this a news story of some signficance (I'll leave it to others to determine how much) is that horses that "break down" during a race are typically not hospitalized, operated on nor rehabilitated in an effort to keep them alive. Most race horses are put down immediately, because the cost of medical services is prohibitive and the pain and suffering the animal will endure in the interim is too great. It is a testament to the care and concern of Barbaro's owners that they took such extraordinary steps. While the horse ultimately did not survive, keeping him alive even this long (and he was injured last May) has benefitted equine medical research tremendously. That in itself has news value.
pleazze
January 30 2007, 3:22PM
Ain't it funny how when Gerald Levert died, there was no mention of him on this website....now a flickin' horse is dead and holy bolgna!!!!
James
January 30 2007, 3:32PM
OK, let me give my country 2 cents worth. Yes, Barbaro was "just a horse" but the story had everything tht the media goes crazy for: money, glory, competition, sex (would he recover enough to become a stud) illness and then death. Each time a news story about Barbaro came on, I'd listen up, just hoping for a good news story that the horse was pulling through.
I grew up camping, swimming, fishing and riding on my family's farm, so I know that there is something amazing about the grace and poise of horses, but I do agree that sometimes people go overboard at the expense of "real news."
Anyway, are we collectively demanding that the media cover stories of relevance to the African American LGBT community?
Adam
January 30 2007, 4:06PM
Racehorses are slave animals. I've been hearing and reading about what a "great champion" this horse was, as if he had any choice or free will to be or not be a racehorse. He was ridden and controlled by a human who kicked him into running fast. That's basically it. It's as if a race car was extolled as a champion. I am a vegan and one of the main reasons why is the utter sadness and cruelty in the way animals are treated in this world. Barbaro is probably in a better place now than he was in this world. Like greyhounds, racehorses are used for the entertainment of humans and when they are no longer useful they are killed. I think if was Einstein who said something along the lines of if you want to see the level of a civilization, observe how they treat animals. We have a really long way to go.
Ty
January 30 2007, 4:49PM
@pleazze, why would Gerald Levert, who, I have never heard of until his daughters Sweet 16 party on MTV, and I'm as black as they come be on this site? did he do anything special or even acknowledge black gay men and woman? as for the dead horse, a big whoop. when they tried to erase the "black" from the Kentucky Derby, that whole racing thing became moot.
Plus, most Americans love and treasure the lives of animals than they do humans, so, not that unusual to see all this hoopla over a horse...
And, for all those who nitpick at Boykin about what he decides as the topic of the day, why not get your own site, or frequent those that make your day. The pettiness/cattiness is really, really weird.
JERRY
January 30 2007, 4:52PM
AMEN TO BERNIE..JAMES..AND ADAM!! NOW LET US STAND FOR THE BENEDICTION AND PUT THIS BEHIND US!!!
Liquid Fonts
January 30 2007, 6:31PM
Keith it was great to see you on CNN yesterday being the voice of reason and insight on such schizoprenic subjects...that show got heated but I think its a great example of how to express ideas w/o people breaking dishing and throwing slurs. That lady next to you was a sharp one too. Yeaa!!
Ryan
January 30 2007, 7:23PM
They had publicized the incident so much around here that people actually got into the whole situation. It was the news I saw when I got up this morning. Barbaro was euthanized. I thought it was okay that the news talked about this, I mean, the kids in my family got truly involved. My sister cried. I don't particularly care for horses, but I thought it truly was sad, after all they tried to do.
Blue
January 30 2007, 9:50PM
Yeah I was kind of like who gives damn ... send the damn thing to the glue factory. Next.
pleazze
January 30 2007, 9:50PM
Ty...no need to defend Keith, I was not attacking him and you're right he ultimately decides what materials should be displayed on his website. If that were not the case, you would not have the pleasure of explaining why your head is so high up a dead horse's azz.
cmoney
January 30 2007, 10:06PM
Talk about beating a dead horse! (sorry, I couldn't resist). People love animals, even the ones they abuse like racehorses. The real story is why this animal's leg broke in the first place. These horses are bred for speed and are ridden hard, putting their legs at great risk for fracture from falls and overuse. CNN won't be reporting that story. CNN was revolutionary with its all news format but lost a lot of credibility when it went from an all news format to programming with trailer trash like Nancy Grace. I can hardly watch it anymore. If you weren't on yesterday, I definitely would have been watching something else.
Karmatic
January 30 2007, 10:38PM
Upon clicking onto the home page, I looked to the right hemisphere of my brain searching for any possible reason why this story would be on Keith's website. But then I read the comments and came to realize that "we all can use a change of pace every now and then"..Now I can give a flying toad about that damn horse (lol), but that story is exactly why we come to this site. You never know what you're going to get when you click on the page.. Lets just appreciate the fact that Keith (and his crew) is not myopic in his view of news worthy stories.
Steve
January 31 2007, 12:49AM
I don't think the press this story had anything to do with CNN management being white. It had everything to do with the horse being "a star." The same glory would have been paid to a highly paid human athlete. Personally, I think it sucks. Some of the other cases that were presented by other posters deserved more attention, undoubtedly.
Whenever I see this kind of crap about news that is simply not worthy, I'm reminded that it's Orwell's 1984 that we all live every day.
GR
January 31 2007, 1:40AM
You said it Keith. I mean, it's just a horse. I didn't understand why they didn't put it out to pasture when it first went down.
BTW, have you noticed EVERYTHING is "breaking" news now. CNN has that tag on its news all day, as does "Good Morning America" when it's on in the morning. Makes no sense to me. It's pretty much been non-stop breaking news since 9-1-1. Kind of takes away the urgency of the matter.
Ron
January 31 2007, 3:27PM
Its actually quite understandable why the Barbaro story was such a big news story. As a society, we have become de-sensitized to the usual gang shootings and car jackings and robberies and random shootings and stabbings that occur every day. The story of Barbaro captured everyone's attention because it was the story of a horse who won the Kentucky Derby by the largest margin in years. People love animals, particularly horses, and it was heartwrenching to see what happened at the start of the Preakness Stakes. I love horses and have been riding since I was young so I have to admit that I was very sad when I heard he had to be euthanized. Horses, unlike people are also seemed as being more vulnerable and innocent; unable to have control over their lives the way that humans do. Besides, this story has been followed since it happened. The surgery, ups and downs since the surgery, and now the ultimate end to the story. Its not surprising to me that it was "breaking news"
CHRIS
January 31 2007, 7:31PM
A YOUNG BLATINA WOMANS BODY WAS RECENTLY FOUND IN THE TRUNK OF HER CAR.SHE HAD BEEN MISSING FOR A WEEK.HER NAME IS SINTIA MESA I BELIEVE.SHES A BLACK WOMAN FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.SO MANY THINGS HAPPEN AND YOUNG BLACK PEOPLES LIVES AND IT NEVER MAKES THE NEWS.A DAYUM HORSE DIES AND THE WHOLE COUNTRY MORNS.JUST SHOWS YOU THAT ANIMALS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN BLACK PEOPLE.
Ron
January 31 2007, 10:48PM
Oh my gosh...not everything is about RACE!! I live in that area and have heard about Ms. Mesa's death, but only because I live in the area. Unfortunately, when it comes to murder in America, she is just of many who are murdered every day. The horse was known nationwide because of the Kentucky Derby win and the terrible incident at the Preakness.
It was just like several years ago when a guy got upset at a woman who I think rear ended him. He got out of the car, took her dog from the car and threw it in the middle of the other side of the road where the dog was run over. It got lots of coverage and people sending in money and things and people were saying the same thing. "Why does a dog get more response than humans?" Again...we've become desensitized to people turning up dead and being murdered because we are saturated with it every day. I mean when I saw the story I felt bad for the woman but honestly...I felt worse about Barbaro. I'd do more for my animals than some of my own family members.
Louis
February 6 2007, 12:18PM
Horse racing is a major sport. Every year people spend millions of dollars to find the next true champion. Barbaro was given the same attention any sports legend would receive if they were to pass on. Yes, it's an animal, but an animal that had a strong desire to compete and win. It's your basic human interest story, which I enjoyed. I am not a fantactic about animals, but loved the story.