Stories that are just too HOT to publish

If you're in the media business for a long time, it's probable that you have run into or heard a story that left your jaw on the floor. So so so SO mind-blowing that it would shock the world. Usually it involves a major star. Who have major sponsors. And it would just be too damaging to print the story.

Often, the major media are in cahoots with the networks and big sponsors who rely on and work with each other, scratch each other's backs. So the method to handle that world shocker story is to cover it up. Or let the minor media outlets run with it - if they manage to acquire it - and let the story die out, because if the mainstream major media doesn't talk about it, it's probably good ol' fake news.

I can't reveal my whopper of a story because I'm sworn to secrecy. I was only told it by a famous friend from the entertainment industry who was dear, close friends with this specific world renowned super champion. There is zero doubt the story is true because I know and fully trust 100% both sources, the entertainer and the source/associate of the super champion. The story was told to me on the phone and I literally dropped my jaw for an hour. It was beyond unbelievable. Then I followed the story and the way it was spun around and altered for public consumption and became even more certain.

Wonder just how many whopper stories about sports stars never make it to the public, for one reason or another.

 

What a scoop you've got there.

 

travolta?!?!

 

A story isn't a story unless it sees the light of day. Same way a proposed piece of legislation doesn't mean anything unless it becomes law.

 

I already know what your hot story is:

 

Roy Jones tested positive for steroids after the Richard Hall fight, it came out when Hall shockingly revealed in an interview with a very minor boxing site after the fight that he and Jones both tested positive. Then a major boxing site followed up on it and did an interview with the Indiana State Commission head Jacob Hall who affirmed that yes, Roy Jones tested positive. But the mainstream media never picked up the story, though everyone in boxing was aware of it. Jones was the biggest star in the sport at the time and the powers that be all conspired to ignore the story. This story is an example of how you kill a damaging story about a money making superstar. Freedom of the press? Or media control?

 

Also sounds uncomfortable! With your jaw wide open for a full hour, that's a lot of mouth breathing. Hmmmm.

 

About a year and a half ago, an email dropped into my inbox like an anvil falling from the sky. It was from the father of a player at the university I cover, revealing something shocking going on within the program. I was stunned. I showed the email to my editors, and they were just as stunned. But my paper doesn't use anonymous sources, and no one would go on the record about it. The fan base remains oblivious

 

No anonymous sources at all? Like, under no circumstances?

That seems silly. If the story is for the overwhelming public good, your paper is doing a disservice to its coverage area.

 

This should be the best thread ever.

 

What are the basics of the story? Might as well tell it here.