Framing the Debate
Fans for Responsible and Accurate Media (FRAMe) was conceived in early 2008, by football fans insistent on accuracy in media accounts of “Cameragate.”
The group’s acronym touches on its mission: to help frame the debate on “Cameragate.” Any news story is presented within a frame of reference, with an agreed-upon reality underlying each story. This is problematic enough when the news media are concerned; in the case of the sports media, accountability is less stringent, and the bar is lower.
FRAMe focuses on correcting errors taken as fact in the “Cameragate” narrative – such as the myth that the NFL circulated a memo regarding videotaping prior to the 2007 season. So many stories by now have responded to the Patriots’ behavior “after the off-season memo was circulated…,” that it has become an almost arcane footnote that the memo in question was circulated in the 2006 off-season. (See FRAMe Backgrounder: “Offseason” memo was in 2006, not 2007.)
In short, a simplified consensus narrative has emerged regarding “Cameragate,” a narrative which may be palatable to a variety of interests, but is simply wrong. The narrative makes “spying” the core of the debate, when in fact spying has been part of the game for decades; paints Bill Belichick as a scofflaw, who read a memo and scant weeks later, flagrantly violated it, when no other teams would dream of doing so; and, above all, elevates selective enforcement on the part of the League, selective reporting on behalf of the sports media, and selective outrage on the part of Sen. Arlen Specter, as public services in pursuit of the truth all fans need to know.
FRAMe uses the word “Cameragate” rather than “Spygate” advisedly. The Patriots are not, in fact, accused of “Spying” (which is not a rules breach), but of “spying in a particular way using a camera,” which (sometimes) is.
FRAMe takes no stand on whether or not hearings should be held on the Senate floor. Rather, FRAMe insists that the sports media and the national news media pursue any resulting story with the same zeal and cynical eye they would turn to events of national importance. Certainly, one “frame” for such hearings is the picture of crusading Senators speaking truth to power. Another “frame” is the phenomenon of McCarthyism. FRAMe urges the sports media to remember to ask qui bene?, and urges the sports media to “follow the money.”
FRAMe is happy to supply the news and sports media with fact sheets regarding the “Cameragate” narrative, and aims to source any such resources thoroughly. Members of the sports media are invited – and encouraged – to use FRAMe as a resource for presenting “the other side of the story.”
