OSU Scandal

[Sawyer]

Because Pogi is so stupid he thinks he needed to be told in advance he was being recorded and/or he needed to actually see the recording device.

Don't you think the editor ask to hear some of the tapes before he let the article be printed? Don't you think legal approved an article like this before it was printed? Don't you think legal listened to all of the tapes before it was printed?

I am going to believe SI before any former OSU player. These athletes have nothing to lose if they say no tape exists and one does. The reporters lose their jobs if they lied to the editor about tapes and they don't exist. Do you think it is easy to get a job at SI? Where do you work if you are disgraced for publishing a completely false story? These writers know defamation law. They know there trade. Those thinking this is all made up are basically going all in with a 2-6 off suit. Those cards could win but it is a horrible bet.

The editor above him might have asked to hear some of the tapes, but that isn't an automatic, especially when dealing with a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. "Legal" almost certainly wasn't involved. But SI (and almost every magazine) does do thorough (and I mean THOROUGH) fact checking of every article they publish. SI is among the most fervent about their fact-checking process, actually. I can guarantee you every detail was confirmed before it was ever published. That doesn't mean it's 100 percent perfect. There could certainly be information they didn't find that refutes what they published. But everything they did published is backed up by something solid, guaranteed.

 

[Sawyer]

To me, this story is eerily similar to what happened after the Miami scandal surfaced a couple of years ago. Players, former players and fans rushing to deny that there was any truth to the reports.

If the SI reporters taped the interviews they conducted, the subjects of those interviews can deny what was said all they want and it will not mean a thing.

In the end, some of what we have read and heard may blow over. But there is way too much smoke here to brush it aside as sour grapes from a few disgruntled former players with an ax to grind.

Difference between this and the Miami scandal: Miami was based largely on the word of a pissed-off felon and former booster. He threw a lot of crap at the wall. Some of it stuck. A lot was unsubstantiated. And the outlet that ran with the initial story wasn't one like SI. I haven't paid much attention to the football side of the Miami scandal, but I know nothing of the basketball stuff involving Haith ended up having any real evidence backing it.

 

[Sawyer]

You give journalists a lot more credit than I do. First, look at the evening news. Various networks tell stories they want told (and conveniently leave out other stories) and they tell the stories they want to report the way they want them reported which best promotes their political leanings.

There is a huge benefit for SI to tell sensational stories (whether completely true or not) just as there is for networks to report the stories they tell in the manner in which they tell them. In my opinion, many journalists are more interested in telling a story that sells than they are in telling the correct story.

Edit to add: Note to everyone, please do not try to turn what I said into a political discussion. I just used evening news as an example of one place we see poor journalism every day.

You can't always compare one form of the media to another. TV, newspapers and magazines all have different standards for confirming the accuracy of what they publish, and they all have different motives for publishing what they do. As you said, sometimes there's a benefit to telling sensational stories. But a sensational story about Oklahoma State doesn't sell magazines. It's Oklahoma State. They've accomplished very little and have zero pull on a national level. Sports Illustrated probably gains little in terms of subscribers, newsstand sales or meaningful online hits by spinning a story about them.

All that said, I think a similar investigation at most successful schools would turn up similar results. College athletes use drugs. They cheat. They get paid outside of NCAA rules. Not all of them, and not everywhere, but we all know it happens some of the time at a lot of places.

A lot of coaches and athletic departments try to do it the right way. Lon Kruger seems like one of those guys. I'm confident most MU coaches do (mostly because our AD would rather have a good academic record and no negative publicity than taking chances to win more). But would I be shocked if an MU player (DGB, for example) received more than he should? Absolutely not.

 

[ByronHoustonsSweatyPalms]

They lost me when James Hale said Thayer Evans was a credible journalist James does know a thing or two about ethics or the lack thereof.


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[Max Power]

They lost me when James Hale said Thayer Evans was a credible journalist James does know a thing or two about ethics or the lack thereof.


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Mistake #1

Listening to anything Hale says

 

[SuperHoops]

The editor above him might have asked to hear some of the tapes, but that isn't an automatic, especially when dealing with a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. "Legal" almost certainly wasn't involved. But SI (and almost every magazine) does do thorough (and I mean THOROUGH) fact checking of every article they publish. SI is among the most fervent about their fact-checking process, actually. I can guarantee you every detail was confirmed before it was ever published. That doesn't mean it's 100 percent perfect. There could certainly be information they didn't find that refutes what they published. But everything they did published is backed up by something solid, guaranteed.

The problem is that there were many glaring errors in the SI articles. Shaw claimed to get paid $700 for cleaning Momma Norris' rent houses. Momma Norris didn't own any rent houses. Fath Carter claimed he and Tatum Bell failed a class together but Bell wasn't even in school at that time. One of the Orange Pride girls quoted in the story wasn't even an Orange Pride member. It almost like there was no fact checking at all. Does it discredit the entire story? Probably not. I'm sure some of it's true and probably more went on than was even mentioned. But to have as many errors in the players stories that were published certainly is unprofessional.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Fath Carter claimed he and Tatum Bell failed a class together but Bell wasn't even in school at that time. .

actually another source came out and said bell was in school but dropped on the last day that you could drop and it not be on your transcript b/c he was failing

 

[snydrosooner]

The problem is that there were many glaring errors in the SI articles. Shaw claimed to get paid $700 for cleaning Momma Norris' rent houses. Momma Norris didn't own any rent houses. Fath Carter claimed he and Tatum Bell failed a class together but Bell wasn't even in school at that time. One of the Orange Pride girls quoted in the story wasn't even an Orange Pride member. It almost like there was no fact checking at all. Does it discredit the entire story? Probably not. I'm sure some of it's true and probably more went on than was even mentioned. But to have as many errors in the players stories that were published certainly is unprofessional.

On the rent houses. Her family admits they had rent houses just not in Stillwater.