Anyone with an internet connection functioning today must be aware of the bomb Deadspin set off yesterday with its story demonstrating that one of the linchpins in Teo's "inspirational" Notre Dame football season story was a fraud:
http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax The first thing I want to note is what a great job Deadspin (Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey) appear to have done on this story. It is very complicated (especially for one, like me, who had not followed the fake version of the story very closely all season) but they lay it out in an organized and well supported manner (even if they continue their tradition of burying the lead in their important stories). The second thing is just how embarrassed ESPN (and every other major sports media outfit) ought to be today. I am home sick with what I hope are only flu-like symptoms (I did get that flu shot last month) and have had ESPN and the Deuce and Dan Patrick on my TV since I woke up, and it has been practically non-stop Manti Teo. Many of the sports authorities have been rather defensive ("what should I do, ask for his grandmother's birth certificate too?") - which seems to miss the fundamental problem. Periodically sports journalists get seduced and hijacked by "feel good" stories, and they fail to realize that they suddenly have a huge conflict of interest - the feel-good story drives ratings and viewer/reader interest, and often the public greets even basic objectivity and critical reporting with hostility. I doubt that anyone at ESPN knowingly sat on evidence of this fraud, but they certainly had no self-interest in questioning the party line story, even when important elements in it just did not add up. We saw something similar for years in both the baseball and, even more, Lance Armstrong PED and Doping stories. ESPN likes to point to the firewall they set up between their programming and investigative reporting arms, but this has always been something of a joke, and the Armstrong and now Teo stories are making that manifest for all to see. They need to do some serious thinking about how to set up a really independent reporting division in Bristol. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
