Slightly OT: Yahoo! Sports & Charles Robinson

[UConn5]

Given UConn's past issues with Yahoo sports I thought it is interesting that there seems to be a bit of an undercurrent consisting of a small number of media guys questioning Charles Robinson's methods in putting together the Yahoo story. By now it is apparent that the writers over at Yahoo Sports place a value on sensationalism over journalistic ethics. The episode with Nate Miles last year at the final four is one such example. This latest Miami scandal appears to be another.

Clearly there were major violations that were occurring, but for Charles Robinson to rely ont he accounts of a convicted felon with a motive for lying (revenge, etc.) without truly corroborating anything is remarkable. Robinson claims to have corroborated the claims using the exhibits from Shapiro's trial, but Shapiro's life was full of lies and so were his financial records (the guy who kept Shapiro's books is also now in jail).

I'm not trying to give Miami any type of a break in this situation, but it looks like Robinson recklessly threw some pretty damning allegations like payment for abortions, and knowledge of the payments around without really doing any leg work to try and make sure that there was a good chance the claims made by Shapiro were true. The fact that the claims "were consistent with the overall arch" or whatever BS Robinson threw out there doesn't fly.

Jason Whitlock appears to be leading the charge, with some others finally joining him. Anyone else bothered by this?

 

[mets1090]

I think it's pretty clear, and has been for a while now, that Yahoo writers care more about making a big splash than about being 100% accurate. The same could be said for most internet reporting sites and for many printed papers. Yahoo does seem to be at the forefront of this though, as they have been the ones to break the store on many scandals in recent times.

 

[61cygni]

Seems to be a parallel between media sources like Yahoo and Calipari. Who cares if your sources and reporting are questionable, or if your Final Fours gets vacated? You got all the money from putting asses in the seats and viewers on your news site, anything that happens after means jack.

 

[UConn5]

If you actually look at the "Miami Scandal" page and check out the sources for most of the players it looks like Charles Robinson decided that facebook was the best and only way to try and corroborate allegations or get the players' side: "Did not respond to facebook message sent directly to account" or some crap like that. I am just more surprised that the media hasn't questioned these guys tactics.