5 Years On - Can We Influence the Media to Finally Get This Right?

5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEFAMATION OF JOE PATERNO & PSU
Five years of SMSS posting on this travesty - Time to Call for Action 

Media Naivety, Complicity, and Stupidity.  

Please revisit this post: ANATOMY OF A MEDIA FRENZY  from Jan. 7, 2011

Saving those links to all those media accounts - that frenzy of condemnation by an almost unanimous media that rushed to condemn Joe Paterno and PSU for enabling the continued crimes of Jerry Sandusky based on the Victim 2 portion of Attorney General Linda Kelly's Presentment could now come in handy. 

Those are the people complicit in the crime of defamation who should forever be tarnished with their feckless irresponsible journalism. Did they not know what a Presentment is? 

A Presentment is supposed to be an accurate synopsis of Grand Jury testimony given under oath but without the benefit of cross-examination, without the introduction of exculpatory evidence, without providing full quotes in context by the witness, and without the presence of counsel outside the Office of the Attorney General. 

The Presentment is typically the case against the defendant stated in the most damning terms alleging the "facts" in the case as seen by the prosecution alone. 

Yet the media treated this Presentment as unassailable FACT and used it to condemn Joe Paterno as the man who heard about a 10-year-old boy being raped by a Penn State Coach from Mike McQueary and chose only to report this to Athletic Director Tim Curley. 

THIS IS WHAT WE KNOW FOR CERTAIN: 

The Victim 2 Presentment by AG Linda Kelly was a BALD FACED LIE. In short this:

(McQueary) saw a naked boy, victim 2, whose age he estimated to be ten years old, with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky. ....(McQueary) reported what he had seen to Joe Paterno.

was a complete misrepresentation of the testimony before the Grand Jury.
We know this for certain because McQueary says it was: 

McQueary wrote the OAG telling them he was never certain of  "intercourse" He never saw "penetration" and he certainly never told Joe Paterno that. 

THAT ALONE SHOULD MERIT MEDIA RETRACTIONS.

We also know that the jury in the Jerry Sandusky Trial returned very few "NOT GUILTY" verdicts on Sandusky. One of those few NOT GUILTY verdicts was Victim 2  Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse. 

So the person who's testimony is the basis for the Presentment by Linda Kelly told her office that the presentment was wrong - a lie - and the jury that heard testimony on that charge ruled NOT GUILTY.

WHERE IS THE MEDIA RETRACTION? 

Many in the Media said - 85-year-old Joe Paterno admitted his culpability when he said: "I wish I had done more". That is also a misrepresentation. Joe Paterno said, "With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."  

Well don't we all? All of us have said at one time we wish we could have foreseen a future where an event in our past came close to offering a chance to do something that may have avoided a consequence we could not see at the time.  

Of course, anyone who has followed the Second Mile Sandusky Scandal on this website knows far more about this fake media produced disaster known as "The Penn State Child Abuse Scandal". But for the moment could we focus on this simple set of FACTS. 

What if we got 100 or maybe up to 300 emails a day in the inboxes of 10 or 12 Media people identified in the ANATOMY OF A MEDIA FRENZY list for a week or two - or until they publish a retraction of what they said in those articles I saved? 

Can we compose an email together we can agree to send to writers on the list that begins:
PLEASE TELL THE TRUTH NOW - PLEASE TELL YOUR READERS THAT YOU INTEND TO UNDO THE DAMAGE YOU CAUSED TO THE GOOD NAME OF JOE PATERNO. 

What if all we want at this point is a complete retraction that reads: MEA CULPA   

In late 2011 I wrote an article that condemned Joe Paterno as the man who heard Mike McQueary say he had witnessed Jerry Sandusky anally raping a 10-year-old on the Penn State campus and did nothing more than tell his boss Athletic Director Tim Curley. That has now been unequivocally proven to be false. Mike McQueary never said that he witnessed anal intercourse and he certainly never told Joe Paterno he had.  

The prosecution's charge that Victim 2 was subjected to anal intercourse was adjudicated NOT GUILTY in the Sandusky trial making it clear that the Jury did not believe McQueary had witnessed anal intercourse. 

I now believe Joe Paterno told the truth when he said McQueary's account of that night in Feb 2001 was unclear. I now understand that Joe Paterno has been unjustly defamed because he did the only thing under the law he could have done by putting McQueary in touch with Penn State administrators. 

It is now abundantly clear that people who have followed every detail of information and testimony, in this case, have been correct. Mike McQueary was not certain of what he witnessed and he was unclear in his statements to Joe Paterno and the Penn State Administrators. The charges against those administrators for Perjury have been dismissed. 

I wish to apologize to Penn State University and Joe Paterno for my part in the defamation of the iconic 'SUCCESS WITH HONOR" coach. I realize I accepted the version of events described in Attorney General Linda Kelly's Presentment as fact. I believed it when she stated that Mike McQueary witnessed anal intercourse and told Joe exactly that.   

I realize that my writing helped to portray 85 year old Joe Paterno as a man more interested in preserving the reputation of his football program than preventing child abuse by a pedophile. I can now see that is not the truth and my words assisted an Attorney General and Board of Trustees who abused their power in their own self-interest. 

The NCAA has done the right thing and restored Joe Paterno's record of wins. Now we should all do the right thing and restore the honor and integrity of Joe Paterno. Joe did the right thing and the OAG was responsible for a grave injustice. We the media were misled by the OAG in PA. 

What if we target 10 or 12 of the writers in the ANATOMY OF A MEDIA FRENZY list every week and send them the email we compose with a list of 3 or 4 links to SMSS articles that detail the facts with testimony proving what we say is true. Can we get 100 to do this?  Or 300 of us who will participate in an email campaign? We can also use twitter and Facebook where we find those accounts for these authors. 

The articles in SMSS get an average of 2850 views per article this past two months. 285 would mean just 10% of those who read the weblog consistently participating in the campaign. 

How many of you reading this would be willing to copy and post to 10 or 12 email addresses a day for a week or two? This can be done by listing all the authors in a single email. 

Potential Targets:
PSU SCANDAL THE STORY SO FAR - by Michael Solomon the Guardian UK
PSU ABUSE SCANDAL CHILLING DETAILS USA Today
WHAT ABOUT THE BOYS? Andrew Rosenthal is horrified

Why Penn State Needs to Change Its Name...Now! By John Tantillo
The tragedy of Joe Paterno By Gene Wojciechowski
Joe Paterno ignored his moral responsibility by Tracee Hamilton WaPo 
Penn State and Joe Paterno deserve part of the blame Mike Wise WaPo
Joe Paterno must leave now: a religious argument By Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld WaPo

In Penn State’s scandal, where was the leadership? Edward Robinson WaPo

Penn State’s abdication of legal and moral obligations WaPo Editorial Board
In wake of Sandusky scandal, PSU coach Joe Paterno must go By Ryan Cooper
Joe Paterno will have to live with choice by Ian O'Conner
Penn State story's expanding horizons by Lester Munson
Scandal sullies Joe Paterno's legacy by Ivan Maisel
Penn State's long road to recovery By Mark Schlabach
Joe Paterno failed his biggest decision By Mark Schlabach

Penn State Nittany Lions again deficient in leadership Mechelle Voepel

Penn State football should be retired, permanently By Jennifer Rubin                          
The Devil and Joe Paterno by Russ Dothat                                                               

1. AP IMPACT: PSU culture explained away Sandusky                                            
2. Bernstein Shreds The Penn State Letter by Dasshole Bernstein                                      
3. In the PSU child sexual abuse scandal, there are no easy answers Wayne Drehs        
4. Penn State sexual abuse scandal puts faith in all college sports ...Scoop Jackson         
5. Penn State Scandal -- TV van gets flipped as Joe Paterno riots .                              
6. Who is Jerry Sandusky Video on ESPN

 GREGG DOYEL CBS PSU GOOGLE IS VIABLE - LINKS BELOW BROKEN 

1. The real Penn State? In Room 206, plenty of heart to be found
2. McQueary to coach Saturday? Reasoning difficult to comprehend
3. PSU students flood campus with misplaced Paterno adoration
4. Untouchable no more: Paterno out at Penn State.
5. Want to find JoePa supporters? Get on his lawn
6. Calling off Paterno conference shows Penn State's cowardice
7. Gricar's 2005 disappearance only one of many mysteries in PSU scandal 

OTL State of Shock Video 1998 investigation, janitor incident,
Rod Gilmore - View of Paterno Has Changed video w Gilmore Syracuse Univ Logos
Penn State and Syracuse scandals have exposed college coaches as ...Howard Bryant