MVN - Most Valuable Network

San Diegans act against ’soccer-challenged’ Fox news affiliate

A number of different groups and individual TV viewers in San Diego are banding together in coming days to fight what they consider to be unfair and discriminatory business practices by XETV - the local FOX affiliate - in relation to their utter lack of pro soccer news in their sports reporting on their nightly News at 10.

They are the only news in southern California who has given zero coverage this season to Major League Soccer.  They have not given one second of coverage to David Beckham’s great play with the Galaxy, nor any other Major League Soccer.

This station has unethical business practices when it comes to local sports coverage.  Besides ignoring all MLS this season - alone in southern California in this regard, they are also the only station who gave zero coverage to this year’s Winter X Games.This is also the third consecutive X Games (summer and winter) where they showed no highlights at all. They were the only station in southern California to show no Winter X Games news.Such omissions seem ridiculous to all locals, in light of the fact that Shaun White - a native and resident of San Diego - won a Gold Medal in the final event this year - in spectacular, record-breaking fashion, I might add - and also won his first Summer X Games gold last year. Shaun White is the most well-known snowboarder in the entire world, and his world fame rivals that of another Carlsbad native - retired skateboard legend Tony Hawk, not to mention being as well known - or even better known - than many athletes in many other sports nationally.In both the soccer and X Games situations, I believe that FOX 6 News is actually in violation of numerous laws and standards. Leaders from sports have contacted them about the problems over a long period of time, but they do not seem to care what we say.XETV’s News at 10 is ignoring the best-known athlete of all athletes, one who plays his home games in Los Angeles.

The sole mention of David Beckham on News at 10 this season was when he was at a Lakers game, and their sports anchor CS Keys insulted him by saying he was guessing that David still played soccer - he even introduced the video by calling Becks “Mr. Posh Spice”, falsely inferring that he is less famous, less known, of less importance or interest than his wife.

This gaffe occurred a mere two days after the first time David won the MLS Player of the Week award (Week 2) - he won this award for this past week, as well.

Be aware that this station’s management - as well as the news and sports departments - are sent all major news tips in timely fashion. Viewers repeatedly have sent news tips via email, phone, and fax, and all I have seen have been friendly and some were very important, too.  They simply choose to not make room for pro soccer news, even the biggest and best Beckham, Galaxy, and Major League Soccer stories and videos.

Viewers and other San Diego citizens are now openly questioning this station’s news policies, which simply do not gel with the local community’s interest, the public trust, or viewer interest. There are likely many legal violations, and they are ignoring viewer requests.

Hispanic groups are organizing legal actions against the station claiming discrimination; it is quite possible the station is violating California State Law, as well as local and Federal regulations. I am not enough of an expert to know about Mexican law, but since their transmitter and ownership are in that country, they may be in violation there, too.

The Televisa-owned station is losing its FOX affiliation in August;  their cross-border contract expired, and the network affiliation is switching to Tribune-owned KSWB.

There is no reason why the station - regardless of affiliation in past, present, or future times, is not covering this pro sport of great local interest among all segments of the population, and is not covering the local L.A. teams, and the world’s best-known athlete - who plays here.

The LA Galaxy are making national news, and all other local stations are covering them.
So far this season…(after six weeks completed),
GALAXY: Highest Scoring Team in the league, now 1 point out of first place in West.
LANDON DONOVAN: League’s goal-scoring leader (8 so far), MLS PLayer of the Week two consecutive weeks (weeks four and five), MLS Goal of the Week two weeks ago.
MLS Player of the Month for April, scored his first hat trick since 2003 in April.
DAVID BECKHAM: MLS Player of the Week twice (including current week).
One of the league’s current leaders in goals scored and assists tallied, had his first-ever two-goal game with the Galaxy in his most recent match. Galaxy team captain.
Forbes’ new world-leading player (number one top-earner), and Yahoo’s most-searched. The best-known athlete of all athletes currently playing in the U.S. - yes, ALL sports!
His Galaxy jersey is the number one seller for adidas worldwide - yes, ALL sports!

So, I hope you see my point clearly that FOX 6 News is not doing its job fairly at all.
If you saw the long list of sports they cover more than pro soccer, you would agree.
If you saw the long list of athletes less famous than Beckham they cover, you’d agree.
Again, News at 10 has had zero stories on Beckham’s play or other MLS this season.

I am acting as a consumer advocate in this local case, which is getting national and international attention.

Please feel free to comment here; I will be doing follow-up reports as events progress in San Diego.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 12:08 pm and is filed under Soccer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.