Lacrosse

Learning Nothing From Duke Debacle, NYT Smears Another College Athlete With Assault Allegation

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:03:00 +0000

Did the Times learn nothing about rushing to judgement from its Duke lacrosse "rape" hoax debacle? Even as the case fell apart, the Times issued a now-notorious, error-riddled 5,000-word story concluding there was enough evidence for the soon-to-be-disgraced local prosecutor to bring the case to trial. Now, the Times has another college sports expose from another bastion of privilege, Yale University. Richard Perez-Pena's bombshell, based on anonymous sources, involves an informal campus accusation of sexual assault against Yale quarterback Patrick Witt, who turned down the chance to becoming a Rhodes scholar to play against arch-rival Harvard.

Clay Waters

Did the New York Times learn nothing about rushing to judgement and presumption of innocence from its Duke lacrosse 'rape' hoax debacle?

More than any other media outlet, in 2006 the Times trumpeted black stripper's Crystal Mangum's rape accusations against three white Duke lacrosse players, accusations that quickly fell apart in a mass of contradictions and shifting stories.

New Book Destroys Credibility of Times' Duke Lacrosse "Rape" Coverage

admin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:12:00 +0000

Why did the Times believe in the Duke rape hoax so long? "[David] Brooks' brand of conservatism - so moderate that he rooted for the Democrats to win control of Congress in 2006 - still put him far to the right of almost every other writer and editor at the Times."

Clay Waters

On Sunday Jeffrey Rosen reviewed "Until Proven Innocent - Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case," by Stuart Taylor & KC Johnson, a book that, among bringing other injustices surrounding the case to light, also excoriates the mainstream press's shoddy coverage, much of which presumed the guilt of the three white lacrosse players.

ABC News Anchor Admits Media Irresponsibility, Bias on Duke Rape Case

admin — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 04:00:00 +0000

Kristen Fyfe

Thanks to the media's politically correct groupthink, “It was difficult to report on [the Duke lacrosse rape case] fairly,” Chris Cuomo said on Good Morning America September 4.

Editor Bill Keller Defends His Paper's Shoddy Duke Rape Hoax Coverage

admin — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:09:00 +0000

Executive Editor Bill Keller says criticism of his paper's coverage of the Duke lacrosse case has "in some instances been unfair to the point of hysteria." But former Public Editor Daniel Okrent thinks the Times should apologize.

Clay Waters

The Duke lacrosse "rape" hoax refuses to fade away, no doubt to the chagrin of Times Executive Editor Bill Keller.

After Duke, Sudden Concern for "Racial Overtones" in Rape Allegations

admin — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:46:00 +0000

Faced with a black athlete as a suspect and an alleged rape victim who is white, the Times displays a concern for "racial overtones" totally absent in its shoddy coverage of the Duke lacrosse "rape" hoax.

Clay Waters

Sunday's "Charges Against a Star Linebacker Raises Questions About Justice" appears at first to be a run-of-the-mill example of politically correct crime coverage.

Political Correctness Trumps Feminism on the Front Page

admin — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:00:00 +0000

No sexism among American Indian lacrosse players, just those from Duke?

Clay Waters

With Bush giving a press conference about the war in Iraq,Thursday wasn't exactly a slow news day. Yet the Times found room on Friday'sfront page for Winnie Hu's storyabout American Indian lacrosse players, "American Indians Widen Old Outlet In Youth Lacrosse."

When Prosecutors Go Wild

admin — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 04:00:00 +0000

Brian Fitzpatrick

Where do you turn for help when the people assaulting your kids are the authorities themselves?

When I was in high school, the local cops decided they'd had enough petty crime from some teenaged hooligans. They started picking up the kids on the street, driving them into the woods, and beating the tar out of them. Having kids acting like jerks is scary, but having officers of the law throw out the law book and exact their own brand of justice is even scarier.

Readers Take on the Times' Lousy Coverage of the Duke "Rape" Hoax

admin — Mon, 14 May 2007 20:01:00 +0000

Public Editor Barney Calame gets a chilly send-off - five letters criticizing the Times' slanted coverage of phony rape allegations against the Duke lacrosse team.

Clay Waters

Times readers sent departing Public Editor Barney Calame off in a batch of letters in place of his Sunday Week in Review column. His successor Clark Hoyt begins his 18-month term next week. Of the ten letters printed by the Times, some wished Calame well, but six focused on the Times' overly credulous coverage of the Duke "rape" hoax

Times' Columnist Attacks "Demonization" of Innocent Duke Players

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:08:00 +0000

Was sports columnist Selena Roberts listening?

Clay Waters

In the aftermath of the Duke lacrosse rape hoax, Times columnist Peter Applebome spoke out against the "socially conscious left" that was ready to convict the innocent Duke lacrosse players without evidence. Was fellow columnist Selena Roberts listening?

On Duke Lacrosse, the Times Has Some Explaining to Do

admin — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:11:00 +0000

The Times leads with the exoneration of the Duke lacrosse players - after a year's worth of misleading coverage.

Clay Waters

Thursday's Times was the only major newspaper to lead with the big news out of North Carolina - the state's attorney general is dropping all charges against the three former Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of the sexual assault of a stripper at an off-campus house.

Selena Roberts Slurs Innocent Duke Lacrosse Players, Again

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:38:00 +0000

Times sports columnist Selena Roberts attacks innocent Duke players with sarcasm and accusations of white privilege: "Don't mess with Duke, though. To shine a light on its integrity has been treated by the irrational mighty as a threat to white privilege....lay off the lacrosse pipeline to Wall Street, excuse the khaki-pants crowd of SAT wonder kids."

Clay Waters

When it comes to slurring innocent Duke lacrosse players, sports columnist Selena Roberts is apparently angling to become the http://www.overlawyered.com/2007/02/meet_john_edwardss_new_blogger.html " target="_self">Amanda http://www.overlawyered.com/2007/02/meet_john_edwardss_new_blogger.html ">Marcotte of the New York Times.

Double Standards on Racially Charged Criminal Accusations?

admin — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:41:00 +0000

A hate-crime prosecutor in Long Beach wins a case, but his lead witness is shown as dubious in the Times. That's not quite how the paper characterized the bearer of false witness in the Duke lacrosse "rape" case.

Clay Waters

Does the Times operate with a double standard when it comes to racially charged criminal accusations?

Lisa Munoz reports Saturday on a hate-crime case in Long Beach, Calif., "Black Teenagers Convicted in Beating of 3 White Women."

Times Reverses Itself on Duke Rape Case

admin — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:32:00 +0000

The Times, less than five months ago: "By disclosing pieces of evidence favorable to the defendants, the defense has created an image of a case heading for the rocks. But an examination of the entire 1,850 pages of evidence gathered by the prosecution in the four months after the accusation yields a more ambiguous picture. It shows that while there are big weaknesses in Mr. Nifong's case, there is also a body of evidence to support his decision to take the matter to a jury."

Clay Waters

The January 12 front-page story,"Duke Accuser Contradicts Herself" on the Duke lacrosse "rape" case, catches it as it enters its final meltdown phase.

Author Duff Wilson begins: "In an interview last month with a district attorney's investigator, the woman who has accused three Duke lacrosse players of sexual assault contradicted critical evidence and parts of her earlier accounts, dealing a new blow to a faltering case."

"Rape, Justice, and the Times"

admin — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:12:00 +0000

The paper's shoddy and slanted coverage of the Duke lacrosse "rape" case has one member of Manhattan's liberal elite having second thoughts about the paper's "pose of objectivity."

Clay Waters

Writer-editor Kurt Andersen, a card-carrying member of Manhattan's liberal cultural elite, may be coming around to the idea of bias in the Times, judging by his New York magazine story on the paper's slanted coverage of the Duke lacrosse "rape" case, "Rape, Justice, and the 'Times.'"