Letter in Dec. 22's SI

are all of teague's interviews for this story on tape?

 

Whoops.

 

Well, that's one way to lose credibility.

 

Ya know, I read both those letters before stumbling upon this thread. While I don't think either of them really changes the merits of the story substantially, and Tom Petty might be right that these people would object no matter what, the bottom line I take out of this is that the writer ginned it up a little. Especially if you look at the dad's letter. Thing is, it's not a story that needed hyping.
And I certainly didn't think it was something SI shouldn't have done. When I read it, I thought exactly the opposite -- that this is an all too rare example of the old SI, the true SI, that isn't about what some NBA guard I never heard of thinks of Britney's comeback album.

 

Are the parents still together?

I ask because I could see the writer getting info from Dad and the mother being pissed he relayed it to the writer. And vice versa.

 

Is Teague on SI staff? I'd never heard of him. Who is he?

 

The bottom line is that SI should have included some kind of editor's reponse with the letter, either acknowledging the truth of what the mom wrote, or standing by the writer's version. It cries out for further explanation.

 

agreed.

 

No doubt they fact-checked it and someone is obviously not being totally truthful. But to not attach a note from the editors to this letter makes the writer seem as though he's the dog in this scenario. It's not just irresponsible to print the letter out without context, it's lazy.

 

Hi,

I felt compelled to say a word in my own defense, here. I have great sympathy for the Carnegie family in every way, but I must say something no one has, yet: The quote in question did not come from some untrustworthy source, but rather from the deceased young man's father, in a recorded interview.

Thanks for your time, and best wishes --

Matthew Teague

 

Why didn't the editors back you in the letter's section? That's what I'm curious about. It seemed with a letter like that, that there should have been an editor's note.

 

Matthew, thanks for posting your letter.