I realize Daily Kos mainly deals with political matters but at times the bigger issues we fight for bubble up in other areas, as in the case here, where we have ESPN (aka 'The Worldwide Leader in Sports') covering up for the powerful.
BACKGROUND: Asst basketball coach, Bernie Fine, was fired for allegedly molesting ball boys for the Syracuse Orangemen:
It’s an abrupt, unceremonious end to a 35-year career, but considering Outside the Lines’ bombshell report this morning – namely, the recorded phone call purportedly between Fine accuser Bobby Davis and Fine’s wife Laurie – probably a necessary one.
Fine was placed on leave, but once this tape emerged, Fine couldn’t be affiliated with the university at all. Consider: not only is Fine accused of molestation, not only did Fine’s wife seemingly admit to knowing about it in the recorded call, but Davis is saying he and Fine’s wife had a sexual relationship. This is one of the most bizarre, and potentially ugliest, scandals we’ve seen. And Syracuse, before it gets any worse – and before head coach Jim Boeheim, who fiercely defended Fine when the story broke, releases a statement tonight – decided it’s already seen enough.
Yes, ESPN reported this on their show called ''Outside the Lines" this past weekend, yet they've been sitting on this tape since 2002, and god only knows how many children may have been hurt between then and now.
Would you not have gone to the police if you knew this?????
For eight years, two news organizations possessed an audio tape that screamed something was horrifically wrong -- that Bernie Fine, an assistant basketball coach for Syracuse University, might have sexually abused a teenage boy. Yet, for all that time, neither ESPN nor the Post-Standard newspaper of Syracuse reported the tape to anyone, authorities included.
The immediate question is, why not? If the media are rightly aghast that Penn State football coach Joe Paterno kept quiet about Jerry Sandusky's alleged molestations, shouldn't news outlets be held to the same standard regarding Bernie Fine?
On the tape, Danny Davis, a former ball boy for the Syracuse basketball team, has a conversation with Fine's wife, Laurie, which provides a strong indication she knew about the alleged molestations.
"I know everything that went on, you know," Laurie Fine says on the tape. "I know everything that went on with him. … Bernie has issues, maybe that he's not aware of, but he has issues." Asked by Davis if he's the only person Bernie Fine sexually abused, Laurie Fine says, "No … I think there might have been others."
So why didn't ESPN report what they knew?
"Well, you know, we don't see it as our job to go to authorities with evidence that we collect."
Hear it for yourself:
Yep, here's the self-proclaimed 'Worldwide Leader in Sports'. Apparently the safety of children take a backseat to their business partners (major universities) and business interests (Syracuse basketball games draw a lot of teevee viewers). Sounds like some media outlets we may know....ones that covered for some fucked up wars or media that continue to cover for Wall Street and others who wield power.
Journalism is so fucked in every aspect of life, not just politics. And unfortunately the bastards at ESPN have much of the sports market cornered. Yet I don't give a damn, I cannot with good conscience watch their network until this is addressed to how I see fit.....and I don't even know how to define what I mean by this? After all, many at ESPN who may have known about this in 2002 may have left the company. I at least want names of everyone who knew so that they can be forever shamed (particularly if children have been hurt by that monster, Bernie Fine, over the last 9 years).
If you wanna join my individual boycott consider this an invitation.
UPDATE: the Post-Standard of Syracuse shouldn't be off the hook, either, and I regret leaving them out of my commentary. Obviously these scumbags were protecting the basketball program as well, and they deserve the same scorn heaped upon ESPN.