Reaction to Manti Te'o and the Purdue Exponent incident
When Manti Te'o's supposed girlfriend was found out to be a hoax it was a really big deal in the sports world. I remember the biggest issue with the whole ordeal was that some thought Te'o knew the girl was fake and played up to it for more publicity throughout the football season.
I think it was fair for the media to expose the hoax, but what they could have done better was not jump to conclusions. The media should have waited to hear both sides of the story. It seemed that before Te'o ever got to tell his story he was already guilty in public opinion of knowing that his online girlfriend was a hoax.
Te'o hurt himself by trusting someone over the internet, but I do think he should have been given the benefit of the doubt about not knowing the person is fake. The next time something like this happens, I believe the media should report it, but don't jump to quick conclusions and report something that could be false.
The Exponent did a good job in reporting the events of what happened when their photographer was apprehended in the EE building. They simply stated what happened and why they believe the photographer did nothing wrong.
I like how they found an expert to comment on the situation and give another opinion on the incident that occurred. The one thing I would have included in the article would be to attempt to get a comment from Purdue police.
Although Purdue police might not have a comment at least you show your readers that you are balanced and willing to let the other side give their account of what happened.
