Media Credibility in Crisis?

This is serious! German media is going mental about it. It concerns the Eurocup game between Germany and the Netherlands. So, what is causing all this noise? The team’s performace? Nope. The two great goals by Gomez? Guess again. The Pitch? Political Issues? Neighbourhood rivalry? The referee? All this doesn’t matter. 

What does matter is this scene: http://tiny.cc/d8yzfw. Germany’s team manager Jogi Löw is mocking one of these lads that cater spare footballs for the players if they kick it off the pitch. The ball boy held the ball and Jogi pushed it out of his grasp. Good for “Bundesjogi” that nobody perceived this little innocent prank as bullying. This was fine. 

The outrageous thing was that this was shown during the live coverage of the game as if it had been live. But this happened during the warm up period and was recorded. The German media is at one: this is fraud, a true scandal that damages the credibility of media coverage as a whole. Headlines and commentators set their priorities and discussed this and left minor issues such as climate change, Euro crisis and human rights aside.

I think this is going too far. They did not show a fake goal or suggesting a substitute to come in that wouldn’t. It even happened on the same day! This scene was broadcasted just half an hour later to brighten up an otherwise dull interruption of the match. Am I just naïve? They also didn’t show a streaker when Croatia met Ireland. This is something we all need to see. This is the core of sports coverage and should be the ultimate label of credibility. German media even used the term censorship in this context.

This reasoning does not make a lot of sense to me. It can only be explained with the unshakable German notion that there is only one truth. One sole truth with no grey area surrounding it. Nothing can be kind of true. Black is black and white is white. It’s like when you arrive on 7:03 when you said you’d be there at 7 - you’re just late. 

Things have to work properly and there is only one proper way. No need to mention that this would have never happened in Germany. Why do something because its fun if it is not true? I guess this is why many Germans earned their fame as pedantic, little flexible and humourless people. I have sympathy for the idea that media has a lot of responsibility and must live up to it. But live coverage of streakers and ball boys is not necessarily at its core. Do we really have to discuss everything seriously? Always? As a matter of principle? I don’t think so.