RE:Bogus Headlines

SandyDSA@aol.com (JOltmann@FANCYPUBS.COM)
Mon, 9 Dec 1996 08:34:00 -0800

I found Linda Eisele's comment about the headline "Horse Dies--Cash
Prizes Awarded" both off-color and inapropriate. As a professional
journalist and an editor of a national equestrian magazine, I was also
offended by this "planted" comment. We are talking about one race, which
I intend to cover as a single, progressive event in endurance riding,
not as the changing face of distance racing. How could a horse die at an
event that hasn't occured yet? I don't see a significance difference
between the cash prizes being awarded for this race and the cash prizes
that have been awarded to IAHA regional and national champions for
YEARS.
And I don't know where you come up with this notion that horses will die
because there is money at the finish line. Don't you have any confidence
in our vets and our governing organization? The horses we lose in our
sport (are few) and I can not think of a single one that was a casualty
because the rider was racing for something.Yet I could give you a list
of other reasons.
I subscribe to ridecamp as a source of supplemental information for my
job and my interest in this sport. It is my job to write headlines, not
yours. Please leave this work to the objective professionals. Your
headline was intended to promote bias, and the field of journalism,
especially newspaper reporting, there are strict ethical guidelines
against that.
And as for the comment about TV sports being for wanna-be males -- I
think Michelle Gibson would be as offended by the comment as I have
been.
Jennifer Oltmann