by John Stevenson
This
is not about either of two fine athletic competitors, Ibtihaj Muhammad and
Simone Manuel. It is about the press
coverage of their respective achievements.
A
pre-competition CNN headline read: "Muslim fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad set to
make U.S. Olympic history in Rio."
Reading the story which followed that headline, you would have to reach
the twelfth paragraph before finding
out anything about her ability or achievements as a fencer. The entire rest of the article exalted her for
wearing the hijab.
After
the individual saber competition, the ABC News headline was: "Fencer
becomes first American Olympian to compete in hijab." Like
the earlier CNN article, this one focused almost entirely on the great
breakthrough in American athletics: having a hijab-wearer compete on Team
USA. A single brief paragraph told of
her performance (she was eliminated mid-way through the event, as were the
other Americans).
Ah,
but in the team saber event, a medal for America! Here is the New York Daily News headline:
"Ibtihaj Muhammad, U.S. teammates win bronze in sabre fencing at Rio
Olympics." The article began:
"U.S. fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad came to the Rio Games determined to show the
world that Muslim-American women can excel in sports." Deep
into the article you will discover the names of her co-medalist teammates,
including one who had been a two-time gold medal winner in a previous
Olympics---and whose performance in Rio likely saved the bronze for Team
USA.
Muhammad's
teammates' performance, their names, even their very existence were just not
the story the press was interested in covering.
It was all about the wearing of the hijab.
(Update:
In November 2017, Mattel announced the launch of its hijab-wearing Barbie,
“modeled after Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad.” This further celebrates her astounding
athletic achievement.)
So
onward to Simone Manuel.
The
headline in the San Jose Mercury News read:
"Phelps shares historic night with African-American." Say what?
Manuel
won Olympic gold in the 100 meter freestyle event. Rather than honoring her by announcing her
name in its headline, the newspaper instead identified her only by her race.
With
her performance in Rio, Manuel became the first African-American woman to win
an individual gold in any Olympic swimming event. Earlier in the day Michael Phelps had taken
his 22nd gold by winning the 200 meter individual medley. Thus the two were tied together in the Murky
News headline.
The
swift social media backlash caused the paper to rewrite its headline to
"Stanford's Simone Manuel and Michael Phelps make history." (Never mind the obvious ambiguity in that re-write---the cleanup squad was
surely rushed.) The paper also offered
this apology: "The original
headline on this story was insensitive and has been updated to acknowledge the
historic gold medal wins by both Simone Manuel and Michael Phelps. We apologize
for the original headline."
But
the cat was out of the bag. The Murky
News had divulged to readers that in their mindset the most important thing was
not the champion herself, or even her performance, but that she was
African-American.
The
press treatment of these two Olympic stories betrays an obsession with race,
gender, diversity---at the expense of the actual athletic news. But perhaps that obsession is just a
reflection of the diversity uber alles mindset of academia, the media, and
other opinion shapers in today's America.
