We all, at one time or another, have let it be known how much we dislike the media in this country. In “straight news” there is always a liberal slant to what is reported and how, and in sports news all social issues are reported from a liberal perspective as well. Too many times we do not get the facts, simply the media spin on the facts, as seen through the liberal prism.

Two sports related stories covered on ESPN this week are perfect examples of this: the “controversy” over Phil Jackson’s postgame joke about his team’s poor defense, and the Alex Rodriguez contract situation with the New York Yankees. Both show the way that media spin can turn simple statements and situations into whatever the media wants them to be.

Let’s take the Phil Jackson comments first, shall we? After a game in which his team had been lit up for a ton of three point shots, mostly on drive and kick situations, Phil made a joke something like this: Tonight was a Brokeback Mountain kind of game, plenty of penetration and kick out. The assembled media laughed, because in all honesty, it was a decent joke. But the talking heads at ESPN did not see it that way at all! Why, they were shocked that a person of Phil Jackson’s stature would say such a thing, and were absolutely appalled that reporters would actually laugh at that. Jamelle Hill, a writer for ESPN.com said on the ESPN show First Take, that she could not believe that her fellow reporters laughed at those jokes and that they had better not write anything condemning Phil for saying it, since they were laughing. Former NFL quarterback Sean Salisbury said, in the same segment, that Jackson should have known better than to say something that was insulting. But here’s where my hypocrisy meter goes off. I remember Sean Salisbury playing a leading role in the movie The Benchwarmers where one of the running jokes in the film was that big, strapping, athletic Sean was secretly gay…and if you don’t believe me, watch the movie on Starz! And yet another of their on air anchors at ESPNEWS was wondering aloud if what Jackson said was a fineable offense by the NBA. So it’s pretty obvious that the folks at ESPN have decided what the story on that is and are working overtime to frame it as a “gay bashing” incident. The really funny thing is that Phil Jackson is basically a hippie, and is probably as liberal, if not more, than the folks at ESPN!

Then there is the framing of the Alex Rodriguez story that is a bother to me, as well. With A-Rod, there has always been a seeming desire at ESPN to bring him down a peg or two. When he signed his huge deal with the Texas Rangers for $250 million, the ESPN folks decided that A-Rod was greedy and only cared about himself; as if none of them would take a job paying a quarter billion dollars if it were offered to them! Then when the pictures of A-Rod and some blonde chick surfaced in a paper, ESPN was all over it trying to make it out that A-Rod was cheating on his wife, even though there was no evidence to support that claim. Then there were the attacks on A-Rod’s character for having the temerity to opt out of his contract with the Yankees during Game 4 of the World Series. According to Peter “Snappy Turtle” Gammons, this was a reason that teams should avoid signing A-Rod, it was evidence of why he had not won a title, and it was the only way A-Rod could get his name mentioned during the World Series. Pretty professional stuff, huh? Finally, there is the current framing of his decision to enter negotiations with the New York Yankees for a new contract. According to ESPNRadio hosts Mike and Mike, A-Rod has had to “Come crawling back to the Yankees with his tail between his legs”, because there was apparently no deal out there for him on the free agent market. According to them, and all the talking heads to follow today, this is a defeat and a humiliation for A-Rod and his agent Scott Boras and a triumph for the Yankees. Suddenly the words of Hank Steinbrenner that he would not negotiate with A-Rod are being spun so that Steinbrenner is a winner by breaking his word, and A-Rod is a loser by negotiating with the Yanks. How, exactly, does that work?

As I recall, A-Rod never said that he wanted to leave the Yankees; he never said that he didn’t want to be a Yankee, nor did he ever pronounce that he would never negotiate with the Yankees…yet, he’s the “loser” here? He stands to get a contract that pays him $27 million bucks a year and he never had to back off of his words to do so, yet he is the one that is “humiliated”? But I will bet you dollars to donuts that all of the ESPN opinion heads will make that their spin on the entire matter.

And it is that which make many of us mistrust the media. Here are a couple of examples where the “reporting” on the incidents are slanted to reach a previously formed opinion; Phil Jackson makes his joke and he’s a bigot, A-Rod gets a raise, yet he’s “humiliated.” The stories are not being reported or remarked on fairly, but are being shaped to fit the media template for stories of their type, or about their subject. And if it’s happening in sports media, you can rest assured that it happens everywhere else in the media universe. And that’s why, in the words of Public Enemy, “You can’t trust it!”