FINLEY: SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE ON SYNTHETICS A CASE OF SLOPPY JOURNALISM
Thursday, February 25th, 2010In reaction to a piece we ran yesterday on the Paulick Report from Brent Schrotenboer in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Bill Finley’s ESPN.com article points out the inaccuracies and misperceptions promoted by the article.
Finley spends a great deal of time highlighting the dirt surface at Los Alamitos and making the case that this predominantly Quarter Horse track is the likely culprit for the inflated numbers of racing fatalities.
"The CHRB may have a lot to worry about and look at, but synthetic surfaces are not one of its primary problems," said Finley. "At least when it comes to safety, they’re getting the job done — no matter what you may have read."
Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think
UPDATE: The following email was sent to us by San Diego Union-Tribune writer Brent Schrotenboer to clear up the controversy over his article’s headline yesterday.
Brad,
Just FYI — Please keep in mind that writers don’t write the headlines to their stories. I didn’t write the headline that Bill Finley based his column on.
While that headline is not false, it wasn’t totally fair either, because the issue is much more nuanced, as the story reflects.
The print version had a different headline: "Latest fatality statistics fuel more debate."
The headline on the online story since has been changed to match this.
Thanks.
Brent Schrotenboer