As an entertainment and celebrity junkie, even I can say that it takes no sports goo-roo to know what's been going on in the world of sports these past few days. No, I do not watch college football and no, I could not have told you who the Penn State football coach was if you asked me last week. Within four days though, I've learned that Joe Paterno has been leading the Nittany Lions football team to victory since 1966, he has been under fire for how he handled sexual abuse allegations against an assistant coach, and now, that he has been fired by the Penn State Board of Trustees.
How do I know this, you may ask? Or better yet, where's the real story? Well, the real story is buried beneath the hundreds of stories, headlines, tweets and Facebook statuses written about this 'American sports icon' who has reached the end of his professional career. In a Huffington Post article, 'Sandusky Scandal: National Media Misses The Mark', Dan Vecellio points out that amidst this breaking news, the "business" of journalism bypassed the journalistic obligation to tell a story and report the news.
Vecellio said, "It is making up the story that will sell the most papers, get the most page views, accrue the most Twitter followers and make the most money in the end." And with a big name like Paterno, it is no wonder that the real story regarding accusations of assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, sexually abusing young boys, isn't making headlines.
Media corporations are going straight for the big name because they know that is what the public (sadly) is most interested in. For this reason, 'The Downfall of American Icon' unfortunately seems to be taking precedence over the young boys abused or the charges Sandusky is facing.
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