On Sept. 11, 2012, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o lost both his grandmother and girlfriend, Leenay Kekua. Te’o went on to lead the Fighting Irish to the National Championship game and became a Heisman candidate.
Throughout the season, the media reported on the tragedies which caused Te’o to gain the public’s sympathy.
However, on Dec. 6, Leenay Kekua, his dead girlfriend, called him and told him she was alive, sort of. He found out he was the victim of a “Catfish” hoax, in reference to the 2010 film and subsequent MTV show about people getting fooled into having serious relationships online.
He told his family about the situation on Christmas Day and informed Notre Dame a day later. The hoax was revealed to the public on Jan. 16 when Deadspin published a report detailing the scam and, coincidentally, Notre Dame Athletic Director, Jack Swarbrick, addressed the media in a press conference.
First, an open message to the Internet Generation.: This is why we should never ever even consider someone our acquaintance unless we have met them in person (make eye contact with them, shake their hand, talk to them face to face, that kind of stuff). Talking to them on the phone doesn’t even count anymore, which is what caused Te’o to fall for the trick.
A person’s social media presence doesn’t count either, but that should just be common sense.
However, I question the legitimacy of Te’o being the victim here. Notre Dame football has mishandled predicaments in the past, as the family of Lizzy Seeberg unfortunately knows. Big time NCAA colleges have been involved in cover ups as well.
So you could throw around a lot of theories — was it staged to help his Heisman chances? A blackmail by MTV to help “Catfish” get ratings? Whatever the case, the main issue is not with Te’o.
The main issue here is the sportswriters. They are stereotypically sloppy reporters, but it is getting kind of ridiculous, especially those among the more well-known sports media outlets.
This story gets a pass because this just isn’t something you suspect would happen. However, the media could have uncovered the likes of Tiger Woods’ infidelity scandal, Lance Armstrong’s doping scandal and especially the Penn State child molestation case long before they eventually did.
You have to start to question the media’s non-sports reporting as well. Look at the poor reporting that occurred in the immediate aftermath of the Newtown shootings. And, for a while, no one could even confirm if a uranium factory in Iran exploded or not.
I’ve been a high school journalist for about half a year and a person of almost 16. I don’t exactly have the experience points required to critique journalists or people. But to loosely quote Beck, don’t believe anything that you see.
By: Jack Kaup