News-Record.com

A critical report on the current installment of HBO's superb series, "Real Sports," takes issue with media coverage of the Duke lacrosse rape case, citing the use of misleading generalizations and stereotypes to feed a more compelling story line.

For instance, the piece notes that stories have depicted Duke as a rich white school and N.C. Central as a poor black school, despite the fact that Duke's undergraduate enrollment is 32 percent minority and NCCU's is 13 percent white.

Further,the piece noted the higher education bond construction boom at Central and included footage of buildings that weren't ragged or crumbling, contrary to some out-of-state depictions.

The piece also included an interview with the NCCU student body president, who flatly dismissed the idea that all NCCU students believe that the lacrosse players are automatically guilty. He said he'd simply like to see justice done. (There are interviews with a white NCCU student and a Latina student as well.)

Personally, I've noticed the almost total lack of context about Durham's heritage as a mecca for black business and black achievement, and its formidable black middle class.

You'd expect from some reports that Rod Steiger's big-bellied sheriff from "In the Heat of the Night" was about to swagger in at any moment.