On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 2:30 PM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote:
> A few members of the general media (Dan Wetzel in particular, who's > someone I respect) seem to have latched onto one sentence in the > article: "A friend of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo told us he was '80 percent > sure' that Manti Te'o was 'in on it,' and that the two perpetrated > Lennay Kekua's death with publicity in mind." They say that they > wouldn't have gone to press with that level of confidence. To which I > would politely and firmly call bullshit. If that's the only thing > you've got doubt on (whether or not Te'o was in on this thing the > whole way), every other piece is rock solid, and that's enough to make > you hesitate running this story, I don't quite know what you're doing, > but it sure as all hell ain't being a journalist. > > As I wrote online last night, in 2001 the Chicago Tribune wrote an > epic story about a single day at O'Hare where an unexpected > thunderstorm threw everything into utter chaos. It was a gripping > read, and I remember thinking "This has got to win a Pulitzer." Sure > enough it did. I've never read something and had that exact thought > cross my mind again until last night. If this doesn't win a Pulitzer, > I don't know what the hell does. I have seen a lot of harping on that "80%" twig of the story as well. I think a lot of that is in response to the Notre Dame news conference last night (could that have happened before the reports you saw at the bar?). ND has apparently decided to go all-in with Teo, emphasizing that Teo did not find out about the fraud until early December, and then told his coaches a couple of weeks later. This has had the effect of focusing reaction to the story, by some, on Teo as naive, island, Mormon, victim, unsophisticated in the ways of big city hucksters. My impression today has been that most of the media talking heads swallowing this line have only seen the ND press conference, and have not actually read the Deadspin article, or any of their follow-up reportage. There is obviously still a lot that is not known here, but there are a hell of a lot of unanswered questions for anyone who wants to argue that up until early December Teo honestly thought the love of his life was a girlfriend who got into a car accident and died of complications associated with leukemia in September. While we must be tentative, the most likely explanation is that this guy started out pranking Teo, then at some point Teo decided to go along with it, probably either specifically to hype his Heisman Trophy campaign, or just generally because he is something of an attention-whore. This highlights again how so many of the media jump into bed with the powerful figures they are supposed to be covering. God forbid anyone on ESPN should actually criticize, or even raise doubts about, anything sacred Notre Dame might say. As Joe says, this is the best piece of sports reporting I have seen in a long time - if it is not recognized as such in the usual ways it will be a travesty. -- 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
