Penn State scorn versus Michigan State scorn

It’s ultimately a case-by-case thing, but as I’ve stated here before, as a general rule I don’t think the media should connect public figures to sexual assault allegations until criminal charges are brought or a civil case is filed. We had a basketball player facing a police report for sexual assault. I think Brey suspended him in the meantime. Or maybe it was the off-season. I can’t remember. Anyway, it went away, and nothing ever hit the press.

It’s not just college town papers, either. When Lizzy Seeberg killed herself after an alleged sexual assault by a football player, the Chicago Tribune didn’t report the player’s name. Eventually Prince Shembo copped to it, maybe at the Combine.

 

Late to the party, but it seems after the courts were done with the doc, looking at his employer was the next logical step.

 

So, "open secrets" is the best policy?

 

That’s just trading protection for access.

 

It’s a big deal to be accused of sexual assault. It’s problematic to permit an anonymous person to launch grenades at a named person through the media. Ask Aziz Ansari about it.

 

No, it’s recognizing that the accused are people, too. What access would have Babe.net have surrendered had it not published the Aziz Ansari piece?

 

I don't think there's an easy answer, but without some reporting, everyone remains in the dark, and no one can connect the dots, that should be there for connecting.

I think that if I was the parent of a field hockey player being recruited to play at MSU, I'd also want to know that the basketball and football coaches were regularly recruiting students to the campus who might rape my field hockey player, and then cover it up.

 

I think Dick makes a fair point in weighing the responsibility of an allegation, as a media person.

I also think case-by-case is a good way to think about it. If you have people on the record saying "This athlete raped me/punch me in the face and nothing was done" then the idea that you have to wait for charges in order to run something seems wrong to me.

 

It’s media judgement to protect public figures. If a county councilman were accused of rape and reported it to the police, a real journalist would publish the story and write that the charges are being investigated. In sports journalism there is no pressure applied to local law enforcement by publishing stories to Force investigators to,do their jobs.

 

You want to talk about motive here. As I’ve argued on countless other threads, that is an impossible debate for me to have. Either it’s the right approach on the merits of the reasoning or it’s not. I can’t prove my inner thoughts.

 

Right. At some point, if, say, the school or local law enforcement is actively covering things up, the calculus changes.

 

In our case, we reported no charges were filed. We did not print any names. We didn't ignore it.