Inspired #6 - Jerry Sandusky Abuse Scandal

The past month will perhaps have been the strangest month I ever live. When I woke up on November 4 2011, I did not expect the future of Penn State to change radically in front of my eyes. Since it was our bye week, I was planning to watch the other teams across the college football landscape. Instead, the news came out that former Penn State Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky was now facing over 40+ charges of sex crimes with young boys.  Along two with Sandusky, two prominent members of the Penn State faced charges of perjury based on testimony made during the grand jury. After reading the grand jury, I felt physically ill as I read of the stories of abuse these boys allegedly faced from Sandusky. Reading that report, I knew that things would never be the same in Happy Valley.

 The story quickly spread like wildfire across the various news sites and social media services across the world. Just hours, after the story broke in the United States, I knew people in Australia asking what is going on at Penn State. The lead story of NBC nightly news that evening was the Jerry Sandusky abuse scandal. In the week that followed, I saw at least 10 to 15 news vans parked outside of Beaver Stadium each morning. ESPN effectively covered the scandal 24/7 during that immediate week following the release of the charges.

On Wednesday November 8, 2011, the Pennsylvania State Board of Trustees decided to fire Joe Paterno and Graham Spanier for their actions in the cover up. Within minutes of the Board of Trustees announcement thousands of students flocked to Beaver Canyon. For the first few hours, the gathered students remained peaceful and somber. Around midnight, the situation took a turn for the worse as the behavior shifted from peaceful to violent. Students overturned a news van and pulled out light posts along Beaver Canyon. Eventually, the police were able to gain control of the situation and dispersed the crowd.

As a student at Penn State, I have had difficulty understanding the actions taken by all of those involved in the cover up. I am waiting to withhold complete judgment until all of the facts come out during the trial, the facts as known are damning for all of those involved. How can Coach Paterno who has made a career requiring football players to do more than the minimum, just do the minimum when told of these serious allegations? How did Penn State benefit from covering up these serious allegations? Why did it take so long for Penn State, outside of Graham Spanier, to respond following the indictments?

For better or worse, this scandal has revealed the power of the media to shape the scandal in this new digital age. Since the scandal, I have read many "facts" being reported by the media on various social media sites. Some of these so-called facts went so far beyond the truth of the situation that I became angered at the lack of journalistic integrity. I am sorry, but starting a rumor that the Second Mile is prostituting young boys to rich donors is despicable. The fact that multiple news sites picked up this story without a repeatable source displays the slow decay of journalistic integrity within the industry.

The actions of the leaders at Penn State in the immediate aftermath of the scandal will become a case study in what not to do in the digital age. The only statement to come out of Penn State in the initial aftermath was the misguided statement from then President Graham Spanier. Perhaps if Penn State had reacted in the immediate aftermath, they could have changed the story told by the media. Instead, the media had free-reign to report the story in ways that sold newspapers and got television viewers. By the time Penn State reacted, it was too late to change the presentment of the story told by the national media. In the digital age, organizations and people must react quickly to stay on top of how the media presents the story. 

This scandal will hang over Penn State for the years to come until the trial and subsequent lawsuits are settled. Unfortunately, those not involved in the scandal will end up paying the most, as the scandal continues to loom overhead. The actions of a few do not define the masses. Going into the future my only hope is that the alleged victims of sexual abuse will obtain a sense of closure should Jerry Sandusky be found guilty of these alleged despicable crimes.