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Machi4velli
SFN Regular
USA
854 Posts |
 Posted - 01/16/2013 : 18:55:05
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http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax
This is maybe a little out of line with things typically posted here, but it seems to speak of some incredible lack of skepticism on the part of journalists.
Here's the narrative that was carried by ESPN, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, the AP, and most every other media outlet covering college football:
| Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, the stories said, played this season under a terrible burden. A Mormon linebacker who led his Catholic school's football program back to glory, Te'o was whipsawed between personal tragedies along the way. In the span of six hours in September, as Sports Illustrated told it, Te'o learned first of the death of his grandmother, Annette Santiago, and then of the death of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua. |
It turns out Te'o had not met this girlfriend of over 3 years in person and it was exclusively a phone/Internet "relationship" and the girl never actually existed, and the whole thing was a hoax.
And here's what we know now (and a long list of the things widely reported that were not true):
| There was no Lennay Kekua. Lennay Kekua did not meet Manti Te'o after the Stanford game in 2009. Lennay Kekua did not attend Stanford. Lennay Kekua never visited Manti Te'o in Hawaii. Lennay Kekua was not in a car accident. Lennay Kekua did not talk to Manti Te'o every night on the telephone. She was not diagnosed with cancer, did not spend time in the hospital, did not engage in a lengthy battle with leukemia. She never had a bone marrow transplant. She was not released from the hospital on Sept. 10, nor did Brian Te'o congratulate her for this over the telephone. She did not insist that Manti Te'o play in the Michigan State or Michigan games, and did not request he send white flowers to her funeral. Her favorite color was not white. Her brother, Koa, did not inform Manti Te'o that she was dead. Koa did not exist. Her funeral did not take place in Carson, Calif., and her casket was not closed at 9 a.m. exactly. She was not laid to rest. |
Apparently all of these media outlets went 100% on hearsay and relied on fake social media accounts, when many of these reported facts were actually falsifiable. Sure they're not reporting on important stories here, but I question to what extent these half-assed journalistic practices may infect news that is more important, given that some of this is from seemingly legitimate newspapers and sources.
It appears to have been rather elaborate: they apparently created a whole family for this girl, had him talking to some female on the phone every day, etc. Of course a big question is what Te'o actually knew and whether or not he was the honest victim or was somehow involved, which I don't know, but there are quite a lot of stories written in the local newspaper and others he could have corrected (that they met at Stanford, that they vacationed together in Hawaii, etc.).
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"Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people."
-Giordano Bruno
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge."
-Stephen Hawking
"Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable"
-Albert Camus |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2013 : 21:13:33 [Permalink]
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Even now, not everything is clear. But Te'o is supposed to give an interview to... Katie Couric?... in the near future to explain everything.
There are lots of issues here. As you note, Mach, it says a lot about sports journalism that such things could go on for so long without being checked (and as a guy who listens to quite a bit of sports radio, a lot of radio personalities have talked about this).
There's more, to be sure, but I'm still trying to sort this out-- I've been hearing/reading different things for the past few days.
On some level, this is more an indictment of the media than some college kid who temporarily forgot how to tackle in a big game. But still. It's a screwy story. |
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Football Player's Dead Girlfriend Hoax
