RIP Joe Paterno

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

As an aside, the problem isn't wanting to be first with breaking news. If you can be first, great.

But you'd better damn well be right.

The real problem is that no one seems to know what confirmation means anymore.

For CBSSports.com, confirmation meant it appeared in a student website. For NPR, confirmation of Giffords' death meant that a single deputy told their reporter she was dead, even though that deputy was in no position to actually know. Both are totally insufficient, and both agencies were humiliated as a result.

Confirmation means, at a bare minimum, get it from two independent sources who know. Talk to source A and source B, and make sure source B didn't learn the news from source A, or vice versa.

Case in point: I don't know if anyone remembers the circumstances of Marlon Brando's death, but for the first 18 hours or so, the only news agency reporting it was a single network affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona. It was my station. We spent about 18 hours getting mocked, yelled at, and second-guessed. (There's a thread about it on here, somewhere.)

We were right... and I kept hearing afterwards that we were "lucky." Bullshit, we were lucky. We were right, we knew we were right, and no one else could get it. The reporter -- a very good friend of mine, who is damn good at his job -- had it confirmed independently through two sources. Those sources were two of Brando's children, who were standing at the bedside when he died.

Don't be afraid to be first if you've really got the story. If your source is a single person or entity that may or may not know what it's talking about, you don't have the story.

 

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

Probably some kid just out of college.

 

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

You know what bothers me? CBS first tried to pawn of the reporting as its own, by not citing Onward State in its original article and instead only including a hyperlink to Onward State's Tweet over the text of "has died."

Then, when the report was wrong, its reporters try to claim it didn't report Paterno was dead; it reported that <i>Onward State</i> reported that.

“@CBSSports: Joe Paterno has died at the age of 85 - http://bit.ly/JOEPATERNO”

And, utilizing Fair Use, the entire CBS report for you to judge whether CBS cited Onward State:
[quote author=CBS]Joe Paterno, the man who for decades was synonymous with Penn State football and was known by the college football world as just "JoePa", <A HREF="https://twitter.com/OnwardState/">has died</A>. Paterno, 85, had been receiving chemotherapy as part of his treatment for lung cancer, and complications from that treatment claimed the longtime Penn State coach's life on Saturday.

Paterno was the head coach of Penn State for 46 seasons before being fired in November as his role in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal came under greater scrutiny. Combined with the time he spent as an assistant, Paterno spent a total of 61 years on the Penn State sidelines. He left behind a legacy that, on the field of play, was unparalleled in Division I football. Paterno holds the all-time Division I record for football coaching wins with a 409-136-3 record, and he won two national championships while going undefeated in five different seasons.

Under Paterno, Penn State was a perennial powerhouse, known for decades as "Linebacker U" for its propensity to develop All-American linebackers. Paterno coached such great linebackers as Dennis Onkotz, Jack Ham, Shane Conlan, LaVar Arrington, Paul Posluszny, Dan Connor, and Sean Lee, along with many others.

Additionally, running back John Cappalletti won the Heisman Trophy in 1973 under Paterno, and Cappalletti was one of seven Penn State players to win the Maxwell Award for most outstanding college football player. All in all, 68 players were named first-team All-American by at least one of the major news services under Paterno; 13 of those players were two-year winners.

Paterno's longtime defensive coordinator and the architect of the defensive schemes that came to typify Penn State football was Jerry Sandusky, who's now more well-known for the allegations of underaged sexual abuse against him made by men who were involved in Sandusky's charity, The Second Mile, as boys. Sandusky is still awaiting trial for those allegations, and he pled not guilty to the charges in December 2011.

In an interview with the Washington Post released just a week before Paterno's death, he expressed remorse for not having done more to stop Sandusky's alleged crimes, and he also said he was "just sick about" the situation. Investigators did not bring charges against Paterno, and instead mentioned that he had fulfilled his legal obligations by notifying his superiors about an alleged assault when he was first notified in 2002.

After Paterno was fired in 2011, Penn State named Tom Bradley -- who, coincidentally, was Sandusky's replacement at defensive coordinator -- interim head coach. Bradley went 1-3, including a loss to Houston in the TicketCity Bowl, and was not retained as a coach when Penn State hired Bill O'Brien in January.

Paterno was well known for encouraging his players to excel in the classroom and earn their undergraduate degrees at Penn State, and his name will live on at Penn State after his firing and death. Paterno and his wife Sue were major financial supporters of Penn State University, as they donated millions of dollars for the Paterno Library on campus, and Paterno helped establish the Paterno Liberal Arts Undergraduate Fellows Program.[/quote]

Please note that I eliminated all hyperlinks except for the "has died" hyperlink. All text is exactly as it was in the original report.

 

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

Tim Brando being reported as the one to officially confirm it. Whoops.

 

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

There's your lede and nut graf, folks.

I see people blaming Twitter. Twitter shot down this rumor as quick as it got out.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but don't blame Twitter. Blame shoddy journalism.

 

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

And this from Doyel, just a couple minutes ago:

@greggdoyelcbs: RIP Joe Paterno. If only things had been handled differently. So much to mourn.




In fairness, it sounds like he was on an airplane when all this went down and probably just saw the initial reports before the backtracking.

 

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

@ Dave Aldridge Joe Paterno has been fired by Penn State board.

 

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

Twitter is the necessary link. If Onward State doesn't tweet it, CBS doesn't pick it up.

Twitter also makes people write then think instead of think then write. Yes, it's shoddy journalism to do that. But without Twitter, that symptom probably wouldn't exist, and the actions definitely wouldn't be possible.

 

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

Oh, I know. I was just tweaking.

 

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

We're still eating pancakes and we're already talking about lunch?

 

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

That's why Twitter is so awesome, and so horrible at the same time.

 

Re: Joe Paterno in serious condition

SO 7.6 seconds ago (threadjack to 'most hated TV commercials').