David Stern Fires Back At Referee Bias Study, N.Y. Times

Stern Says NBA Referee Bias Study Is Flawed

NBA Commissioner David Stern on Friday “ripped into an academic study suggesting that racial bias has influenced the league’s officiating, and was equally harsh toward” the N.Y. Times, which reported on the study in a front-page story last Wednesday, according to Ken Berger of NEWSDAY. Stern said of the study’s authors, “Obviously they had a deadline, because the information they had was so fresh ... that they had to rush it into publication. Why? They wanted to get good playoff placement on the front page of The New York Times. And we’re not buying it, OK? This is the newspaper of the Duke lacrosse players and Judith Miller, and so they’re impeached now with sports as far as I’m concerned” (NEWSDAY, 5/5).

START OF THE DISCUSSION? Univ. of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business assistant professor Justin Wolfers, one of the study’s authors, said, “There’s an emerging consensus in psychology and law that there may be unconscious forms of bias. We’re trying to determine if that’s empirically valid. ... Our expectation was that we weren’t going to find anything.” But NBA President of League & Basketball Operations Joel Litvin said, “To [the] question, ‘Can you definitively say there’s no bias in calling?’ Yes. We proved it with the data, data that is superior to theirs” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 5/6). In K.C., Jason Whitlock wrote the study “did not call anyone or any group evil. The study simply added to previous studies that prove we all have racial biases, and we unconsciously let them control some of the decisions we make. ... The study should contribute to healthy dialogue on the issue of race” (K.C. STAR, 5/6).