Commentators and Bias...

So I'm watching Brumbies. vs Stormers and it reminded me of a bee I've had in my bonnet

Anybody else feel commentators are more biased than they used to be?

The Super 14 definitely has Kiwi commentators cheering for NZ teams over their overseas counterparts, and the Jaapie commentators for this game are definitely pro-Stormers

The commentators for Aussie cricket are ATROCIOUS

Debbie Hockley admitted frankly yesterday while commentating on cricket that she is biased

Our cricket commentators are pretty biased, but nowhere near as bad as when the ABs are playing

Is this a new development, or am I looking at the past with rose tinted glasses?

I think all our sports commentators and journalists are massively biased, in the way that a journalist working for Pravda in the USSR would be biased. Sure, you tell it how you see it - but you see it from the perspective of the CPSU and you'll report everything in a way that makes sure you don't end up on the wrong side of the party bosses and/or get sent to the Gulag.

I realised just how far our sports journalists and commentators were craven slaves of the people who hold the purse strings when I observed the completely uncritical media beatup that was the Tua-Cameron fight. The sports media, the commentators, and the radio hosts hyped the whole thing as if where a genuine contest with some wider importance in the boxing world, rather than just a local has been who needed some $$ taking on a journeyman nobody. Of course, the whole thing was a ludicrous joke as a "sporting" encounter and Tua has gone back to his comfortable retirement. Anyone with eyes that wanted to see and who retained even 1% of their critical faculties could - and did - predict exactly what happened.

The same sort of party groupthink is rife in the Super rugby commentariat. This "new" or "correct" interpretation of the tackle ball rule is nothng of the sort - it is just tuning the clock back a decade or so to when the Brumbies ruled the roost and rugby union was a fifteen man variant of rugby league without the six tackle rule. Look at the Crusaders last night - they committed one or two players to the tackle and then attacked the first receiver. That isn't rugby. It is a bastardised hybrid and Stephen Jones is right to mock it. Not one journalist here has got the balls to call it though, because their job is to act as cheerleaders for Sky TV. Don't want to cheerlead Sky? Then no job in sports journalism for you! But mark my words - within 18 months people will be complaining it is impossible to win the ball back at ruck and maul and rugby needs a genuine contest at the ruck to stop metronomic teams hanging on to the ball for 10-12 minutes at a time.

Aussie cricket commentators are hopelessly biased because they understand they are delivering a cartoon commentary to a rabidly nationalistic Kath and Kim audience that wants a cowboys and Indians, black hats vs. white hats, simplistic narrative of their Aussie heros winning or being done in by cruel umpiring or freakish acts of God. Anything mildly critical, boringly analytical or that might upset the viewer and cause them to change channel is banished. It is all primary colours, cops and robbers stuff as per the payTV party manifesto. NZ commentators are only a more mild version of the Aussies because the money and subsequent hype is less here. It isn't a matter of intent, just degree.

Modern professional sport is increasingly an unedifying circus where the media and commentary teams are the ringmasters and clowns who try and suspend your disbelief and make you think a cocker spaniel dancing on its hind legs with a cat is hilarious to observe.

Id like to slap Bill Lawry

Fairly common all over the world, in the UK the commentators are fairly neutral when talking about a Premier League game, but when it comes to the Champions League or an international game then it's the pride of England vs those dirty foreigners it's ridiculous.Never a better example than last years Champions League when it was basically Barcelona vs England (well it was pretty clear the winner would be either us, Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea, or Arsenal) so they spent most of the build up talking about how superior the English clubs were and the Premier League style was. Then when it actually came time to play an English team in the semis, in the first leg Chelsea played the most disgusting stay back hack and burn cancer football and were being lauded by he commentators as wonderful. Barcelona should have been awarded a stonewall penalty when Henry was pulled down in the box and the commentators said something like maybe Chelsea got a away with one there but it's hard to say. It finished 0-0 and post match the panel of 'experts' were raving about how Chelsea pulled off an incredible defensive display, completely ignoring the penalty and the fact that Chelsea committed 30 fouls and received 1 single yellow card, whereas Barcelona committed 6 fouls and received 3 yellow cards.

Then in the the second leg every time a Chelsea player got into the area they commentators were calling dead set penalty, and when Barcelona scored the last minute winner one of the commentators uttered the words "Oh no". Post match they identified 5 different stonewall penalties as evidence that Chelsea got robbed. In reality there was 1 undeniable penalty and a bunch of 50/50 calls, they ignored that Barcelona had a player sent off wrongly when a Chelsea player tripped over his own feet, and no mention of the penalty that should have been given in the first leg. Chelsea were robbed according to the English commentary team, but now there was no way that Barcelona would beat the mighty English champions Manchester United who were going to make history by winning the CL twice in a row for the first time.

Although you haven't truly heard biased until you've heard an Irish commentary team during a Ireland rugby match.

Bill Lawry is fkn awesome imo.

Besides Benaud, he is EASILY the best out of that lot. Love how he gets excited like a kid over cricket :>

And he's not any more biased than any of the other Aussie commentators -- the guy just loves good cricket

We've been through this before nit, you just hasppen to fall for his balancing bs

Totally agree with gummi! Bill Lawry is fkn awesome. He's so passionate, it's hard not to "fall for it" when you're watching and that's a big part of his awesomeness. He really brings you into the game, gets you excited as well... It's contagious. And even though we support different teams, we still share his love of the game..

Bill Lawry and Richie Benaud are legendary!

The worst is the NZ cricket commentary.. Ian Smith in particular. Embarassing to listen to his biased whinging imo

As an aside, this is BS. Tua is still training and back on the circuit!

Well that just makes you BOTH imbeciles then Sorry cant admire anything/anyone so blatently pro Aussie