Category: Module 1

32 medals later and we’re still talking about Ryan Lochte

32 medals for the United States track and field team. That’s how many medals were earned by the various events. Thirty two is the most medals won by the U.S. Track and field team since 1984. But, no one seems to be hearing about that. No one is hearing about how the U.S. showed up in almost every race on the track. Races like the 5,000 meter and 1,500 meter that have belonged to other foreign countries for years. The U.S. proved to be more than the college development ground but show up at Rio ready to roll. On the women’s side, Emma Coburn and Jenny Simpson won the first U.S. medals in their respected events. The U.S. dominated track and field, but the news cycle has focused the attention elsewhere: one hazy night in Rio.

Although the way that scandal can take over the news cycle is not surprising, I am surprised by how little we’re hearing of anything else coming out of Rio. We’re hearing about how Jimmy Feigen has announced his statement that is similar to Gunnar Bentz and the uproar on who does and doesn’t want to be associated with Ryan Lochte now (Dancing With the Stars vs. Speedo). But we’ve also lost the voice of Katie Ledecky in the midst of all the drama. Ledecky who walks away from Rio with five medals has had little coverage since leaving the pool. With all the success from Rio, it is surprising that media coverage about Ryan Lochte’s comments have overshadowed the whole Rio experience.

Questions for Lochte Gate

This is how I think I would have approached Lochte Gate:

  • Ask for the time, date, location of incident, and those involved – What type of gas station was it? What time did it happened? Where is the gas station location? Who were present at the event? Swimmers and everyone else in the general area.
  • Obtain security camera footage — Could we obtain a copy of the surveillance footage of that night?
  • Get a statement from Ryan Lochte or his publicist — What happened as you remember it? Why do you think what happened, happened? Did anything provoke them?
  • Validate statement from Ryan Lochte’s mother – What did your son tell you? How did he phrase it?
    • note that she was not present during the alleged robbery
  • Get statements from USOC and IOC – Why do the USOC and the IOC comments about the situation contradict each other? Is one committee covering something or does one not have all the facts?
  • Interview those involved in situation and or obtain statements from the representatives of the swimmers — (asking Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, or Jimmy Feigen) What happened that night? Why were you at the gas station? What started everything? Was a gun really held to Ryan’s head? How much of Ryan’s statement coincides with what you saw?
    • There was little to no reason to obtain a statement from Micheal Phelps, he was not directly involved in the situation
  • Interview police and determine severity of damaged property — How did the police obtain the necessary information to take their stance? Did they just talk to the people in the gas station? Did they talk to the swimmers as well?
  • Assess why there was a gun in the first place — Why was there a gun? What are the laws concerning carrying a gun in Rio?
    • note law differences about gun control in different countries
  • Once all of the information is then gathered and verified, write the story

Ryan Lochte

One thing that surprised me about sports, as of late, was how “Lochte Gate” was handled.

Lochte first told USA Today about the incident on August 14. The USOC spokesperson, Patrick Sandusky, made a statement about the incident but then an IOC spokesperson denied the allegations.

The only other people quoted in that article about the incident were people who were not present for it. Lochte’s mother was quoted as was Michael Phelps. Two people who had nothing to do with the situation and we’re going off of here say. Neither of the other two swimmers with him were asked about the incident.

I feel like asking the two swimmers who were with him would have been the most logical thing to do.

Gunnar Bentz didn’t even release a statement about what happened until nearly a week after the accused situation occurred.

The way the handling of this incident surprised me because the reporters, and or media outlets, seemed to speak to Lochte and everyone else but neglected to speak to the two other swimmers.

I believe this could have been handled in a much more efficient way. Unfortunately, it was not and now Ryan Lochte has a long road a head of him.

Surprising decision: Clarkston chosen for refugee resettlement and sports teams arise in area

Something that surprised me that is tangentially related to sports is how Clarkston, Georgia, is a city essentially made up of refugees and people from other countries. It was interesting how it’s so close to Atlanta, yet many people who have lived in Georgia their entire lives do not know it exists. When I was reporting a story of multiplatform, I found out that the Clarkston High School cross country team is about 90 percent refugees, which surprised me quite a bit and allowed me to fully grasp the demographic makeup of the high school. Then, a week ago I did research on the Fugees Family soccer program also in that area. That sparked a couple questions that I’m curious about looking into: How do sports play a role in refugee resettlement? Are there similar teams in other parts of the United States? And a bigger question about the refugee crisis in general, why Clarkston? I’ve done some research on this in the past, but I’d like to look at this community as a whole and see what led to this decision. I’m also interested to see what the community’s outlook is on sports.

I read this story last week that solely focuses on the Fugees Family and the mission of the team. It also looked into the struggles and pasts of individual members of the team and how that lingers in their day-to-day life in the United States. This article gives a broader look at the city of Clarkston and offered a bit more background information about how this town became a hub for refugee resettlement.

Vox/Sandusky

I chose the stack on Transgender myths because honestly, I live a rather sheltered life and love taking any opportunity I can to learn. I was particularly intrigued by the card that explained gender identity in children, which I was honestly under a different impression of. I did not know that a child could determine a gender identity, considering their brains are not fully developed and they have experienced so little life. In terms of presentation, there are things that I both like and dislike about it. I like that the presentation is unique by the means of cards and that the colors blend well and seem appropriate for what the site is being used for. I also liked that you could see all the headlines in one screen so that you could easily pick what you wanted to read. However, I went to vox.com and could not find the cards from there, so if they are trying to gain attention and reads, it may not be the best idea.

When I first heard about the Sandusky situation, I did not know what to think about the situation. The news broke when I was in high school and if I’m being honest, I was not huge on the news in high school as I was too involved with my own athletic career to really spend time doing anything else. Pathetic excuse, especially considering where I am now. When I really took the time to learn what happened, I was disgusted. Purely disgusted. How could someone do that and how could someone else, someone so loved by so many, just let it happen? I was curious and wanted to know more, but also in too much of disgust to search for more answers.

Being a little bit older and a little bit wiser, reading the Patriot News now is even harder. I actually googled ‘Jerry Sandusky’ and learned based on recent news that he is now trying to appeal and actually appeared in court today. To me, that is just sick and cowardly. Why not take responsibility when all these people are scarred and suffering because of your actions? Reading the specific allegations are the hardest part for me, simply because of what they are; specific. Imagery, in this case, is not as welcome as usual. I commend Ganim’s reporting and I can only imagine how hard it must have been with her, having an even closer look at the case. As a women in sports media, I can only imagine the stigmas she encountered and roadblocks, considering the situation.

 

 

A look back at the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State

I don’t remember exactly how I heard about the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State, but I know I immediately took notice of the situation.

As a lifelong college football enthusiast, Penn State has always been considered one of the premier programs in the nation, and their longtime head coach Joe Paterno one of the sport’s most revered coaches. To have any situation cloud the program means it’s something to keep your eye on.To have this happen at the hands of someone Paterno kept on staff for over 30 years was a horrifying fact, even before it became painfully apparent Paterno knew more than he let on.

There was more than just one fact that jumped out at me from these stories. One that was certainly eye-opening was that the former district attorney who was involved in the case, Ray Gricar, had been missing for seven years and considered legally dead. Also, the fact that there was a sting operation involving Sandusky in 1998 that yielded some evidence but not enough is disconcerting to say the least. This turned out to be a string of what Ganim calls “missed opportunities” in which people had the chance to take down Sandusky but, for various reasons, were not able to follow through.

Vox Card Reaction: Gun Violence

Since gun violence continues to be a pressing issue in America, I chose to look through the cards on this issue.

The second card regarding the United States’ gun crime rates compared to other so-called “rich” countries was a jarring one. With 29.7 homicides by firearms per 1 million people in 2012, the chart revealed the United States has more such crimes than Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Canada combined.

I was also surprised by the fact that there are more gun suicides in America than gun homicides, going back as far as 1999. It’s a lot more common to hear about homicides when the issue with guns comes up, but I think this is a good glimpse into how gun control isn’t such a simple issue. This brings into the factor that mental health in this country should play in regards to this issue.

I think it’s important to also note that the angle with these cards isn’t necessarily for or against guns, although one can take away that gun violence in the United States is undoubtedly an issue. I bring up this point because of the third card, which stated that gun homicides — as well as all homicides — have declined starting in the 1990s. Other facts included may make people who are pro-guns believe these cards are purposefully learning toward gun control, but I think that would be an unfair claim to make.   

Reaction to Sandusky at Penn State

When I first heard about the Jerry Sandusky scandal I thought to myself, ” damnnnnnn.” I also remembering feeling a wave of different emotions: sad, scared, frustrated, disgusted etc. Growing up an athlete and playing various different sports, it was always my coaches I felt I could to if I was ever having problems outside of the sport. To think that a coach would take advantage of his players and sexually abuse them really made me sad, but also very angry. Also some of these boys were very young, which I find to be even more disgusting.

I can’t remember much else about what I thought about this case after the heat of it kind of died down, I know I was a junior in high school when it happened though. I will note that I didn’t think much of it until about a year or two ago I was watching Law & Order: SVU and there was an episode where a college coach was sexually abusing his players and even some of the high school recruits. This episode was definitely made after and about Sandusky. I also think there was another episode (maybe Law & Order: SVU) where another kind of coach was molesting his summer camp campers and they finally spoke up after about it years later.

What I find to be the most interesting and gut wrenching is how when Sandusky was first reported to having touched a player inappropriately, DiNunzio didn’t even speak to the child’s mother. It just blows my mind how schools will do anything to brush something under the rug, especially if it could hurt a sports team or their reputation. It’s also insane how long this was going on and no one did anything about it.

Vox

I chose the “The Baltimore protests over Freddie Gray’s death, explained” stack because I didn’t much about who Freddie Gray was or all of the protests in Baltimore and I was interested in this stack of cards.

Not only did I find this stack of cards very interesting, I think Vox is a really cool website. It was super easy to use and had a lot of relevant and useful information. The stacks aren’t terribly long and are easy to read. I really like how you can click through out the cards and start on card #5 if you chose to. It’s also nice how you can rate a page with a thumbs up or down if you found the card helpful or not. Also throughout the cards there could be links to other articles related to the story, if you needed more information on the topic. That is also very cool.

Sandusky Scandal at Penn State

In 2011, I was a junior in high school. The news about Jerry Sandusky rocked the news world and it was hard to comprehend. It was hard to comprehend how a scandal of this magnitude could happen and to children. I just remember feeling sick at the thought.

The quote from The Patriot News: “I’m infuriated that people would not report something like that,” she said. “I still can’t believe it. I’m appalled. I’m shocked. I’m stunned. There’s so many words. I’m very mad. They could have prevented this from happening,” wraps up the sentiment of how I reflect back on the Sandusky Scandal. It is disheartening that the truth took so long to come out and how many people missed the opportunity to come clean.