CHRB Scandal Coverage Lessons

The San Diego Union-Tribune continues to lead in the coverage of the CHRB medication violation scandal with a follow up article today. Compare the critical eye that journalist Brent Schrotenboer puts on the matter with the industry rags.

In a recent Blood-Horse article, Night/Weekend Editor Jack Shinar provides standard industry coverage, which is to say he repeats exactly what he is told. In this case he perpetuates the hatchet job Scott Chaney has done on whistle blower Gina Powell. The sport suffers from coverage that is mostly re-arranged press releases, and we gobble it up, beseeching "more drivel, please" because we see the alternative being no coverage at all.

It is unfair to single out the Blood-Horse. Nearly every story on the matter, save the San Diego Union-Tribune's, failed to be critical, investigate facts independently, and reconcile statements made by the parties involved. That the Shinar article lends credibility to the CHRB's scapegoating of Gina Powell so succinctly is what makes it notable. The Blood-Horse puts out one of the better industry publications. I would be remiss if I did not note that editor Ray Paulick tilts at windmills, being a rare voice of original thinking in the sport.

Other News & Notes
The CHRB has now posted the report compiled by CHRB employee Scott Chaney and submitted to the Board's Medication committee discussing the medication violation scandal that this blog has discussed, ad nauseam. The appendix, which includes 73 pages of documentation and interviews, was not posted.