Sports journalism rolled over and died in Happy Valley on Thursday night.
On Nov. 9, around 10 p.m., I turned on CNN just in time to get engulfed in the press conference held to announce the firings of Penn State President Graham Spanier and head football coach Joe Paterno.
What I saw and heard over the next half hour was profoundly dismaying, and it didn't even have anything to do with Jerry Sandusky or Mike McQueary or Gary Schultz or Tim Curley or the as yet unknown number of alleged rape victims. Rather, it was the reaction to the news from many in the Penn State press pool. More specifically, it was the utter lack of integrity, restraint and adherence to journalistic standards--much less respect for the alleged victims--contained in those reactions. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching, if only to witness what is surely the largest scale mockery of journalism in recent history.
Amid the wailing and rending of clothes over the dismissal of a football coach, there was not one question about campus grief counseling, or the emotional state of the Penn State athletes or student body as a whole. There is a very real likelihood a child rapist has stalked State College for decades without penalty, yet all that much of the Penn State press wanted to know was why they couldn't have their precious football coach back.
This was the personification of journalistic Stockholm syndrome. It was the trading in of professional ethics for some face time with a self-constructed idol. And when that idol turned out not to be a deity full of morality and goodness, much of the Penn State press threw a tantrum. It kicked, screamed and denied denied denied that a football coach it carefully fashioned as a god over four decades was in fact just an old man with some football sense and a dark secret.
It was a despicable display and an embarrassing affront to the profession and the sensibilities it's built upon. It was the refusal to, in one of the biggest moments in State College history, take off the ball cap and face paint and commit a decent act of journalism. For that, we are all worse off.
Perhaps the saddest part of what we saw around 10 p.m. on Nov. 9 is that what transpired overshadowed the minority of outlets that have produced measured, informative work over the past week. The Harrisburg Patriot-News has been on the case since March, and consistently cut to the core of the issues that actually matter. It first reported on the allegations against Sandusky, and its story about a current Penn State student whose brother is one of the alleged victims is fascinating. It has done its fair share of reporting on Paterno, yes, but unlike others never lost sight of the main players.
The Daily Collegian, Penn State's independent student newspaper, has done a magnificent job as well. In what must have been a sleepless week for the entire student staff, the Collegian churned out stories from every angle, as well as photos, videos and Twitter accounts of each new event. That they've presented an even-handed narrative as members of a university in which some refused to express their opinions on the record for fear of "getting beat up" is commendable.
There are surely others deserving of praise, that much is sure. But they are unfortunately lost in the sea of blatant homerism that took a chance to shine on the national stage and instead did itself, and sports journalism as a whole, irreparable harm.
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This is just a small slice of the mess at Penn State, a mess that will be addressed more comprehensively in subsequent articles. For insight on why I chose to focus on the media reaction and not the allegations themselves, go here.
On Nov. 9, around 10 p.m., I turned on CNN just in time to get engulfed in the press conference held to announce the firings of Penn State President Graham Spanier and head football coach Joe Paterno.
What I saw and heard over the next half hour was profoundly dismaying, and it didn't even have anything to do with Jerry Sandusky or Mike McQueary or Gary Schultz or Tim Curley or the as yet unknown number of alleged rape victims. Rather, it was the reaction to the news from many in the Penn State press pool. More specifically, it was the utter lack of integrity, restraint and adherence to journalistic standards--much less respect for the alleged victims--contained in those reactions. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching, if only to witness what is surely the largest scale mockery of journalism in recent history.
Amid the wailing and rending of clothes over the dismissal of a football coach, there was not one question about campus grief counseling, or the emotional state of the Penn State athletes or student body as a whole. There is a very real likelihood a child rapist has stalked State College for decades without penalty, yet all that much of the Penn State press wanted to know was why they couldn't have their precious football coach back.
This was the personification of journalistic Stockholm syndrome. It was the trading in of professional ethics for some face time with a self-constructed idol. And when that idol turned out not to be a deity full of morality and goodness, much of the Penn State press threw a tantrum. It kicked, screamed and denied denied denied that a football coach it carefully fashioned as a god over four decades was in fact just an old man with some football sense and a dark secret.
It was a despicable display and an embarrassing affront to the profession and the sensibilities it's built upon. It was the refusal to, in one of the biggest moments in State College history, take off the ball cap and face paint and commit a decent act of journalism. For that, we are all worse off.
Perhaps the saddest part of what we saw around 10 p.m. on Nov. 9 is that what transpired overshadowed the minority of outlets that have produced measured, informative work over the past week. The Harrisburg Patriot-News has been on the case since March, and consistently cut to the core of the issues that actually matter. It first reported on the allegations against Sandusky, and its story about a current Penn State student whose brother is one of the alleged victims is fascinating. It has done its fair share of reporting on Paterno, yes, but unlike others never lost sight of the main players.
The Daily Collegian, Penn State's independent student newspaper, has done a magnificent job as well. In what must have been a sleepless week for the entire student staff, the Collegian churned out stories from every angle, as well as photos, videos and Twitter accounts of each new event. That they've presented an even-handed narrative as members of a university in which some refused to express their opinions on the record for fear of "getting beat up" is commendable.
There are surely others deserving of praise, that much is sure. But they are unfortunately lost in the sea of blatant homerism that took a chance to shine on the national stage and instead did itself, and sports journalism as a whole, irreparable harm.
---
This is just a small slice of the mess at Penn State, a mess that will be addressed more comprehensively in subsequent articles. For insight on why I chose to focus on the media reaction and not the allegations themselves, go here.
2 comments:
Watching from afar, I've found the whole ordeal horrifying. Here are individuals idolized on a national scale being allowed to act with impunity to the extent that children were raped. Where is the integrity? Sports, for me, are integrally linked with having some sort of backbone, some moral fiber, and this is just not the case. How can Penn State students protest a coach getting fired for his involvement in this? Sure, Paterno didn't rape the children, but do we want a person who turns his back on these allegations serving as a role model for a generation of young men? I'd hope not.
I completely agree Ben. The amount of people in outrage over his dismissal is absurd to me. Joe Paterno was fired for no other reason then Joe Paterno failed to act.
I laugh when someone tells me "well he told his superiors." The organizational flow chart may say he has a boss but Joe Pa is without a doubt the highest ranking official at that university. He is also the highest paid person on staff at Penn State. Money talks.
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