Tuesday, July 10

Analysis: Is Ohio State another "UVa" (on steroids)?

The evidence in the Ohio State sex abuse investigation points to the media running with a story that was too good to fact check -- just like Rolling Stone ran with its story of a gang rape on the University of Virginia campus

By
Ray Blehar
July 10, 2018, 8:53 PM, EDT

Here we go again.

Sex abuse allegations at Ohio State University (OSU) have resulted in a (delayed) media onslaught against Ohio State coaches, and specifically, Congressmen Jim Jordan, who "had to know" about and "turned a blind eye" to abuses allegedly perpetrated by former team doctor Richard H. Strauss.

When it comes to reporting about sexual abuse on college campuses, the media seemingly can't separate fact from fiction.  It generally takes whatever the source gives them at face value and runs with it, ruining the reputations of many innocent people in the process.

While the media has already painted the OSU story as another Penn State and/or another Michigan State situation, there are two very critical and important differences that make the Columbus school unlike its conference brothers.

1. Those who were allegedly sexually abused on the campus were adults.
2.  Not a single one of them made a formal contemporaneous report to anyone.

The latter two facts make this case more akin to the allegations of "Jackie," the alleged victim in the UVa gang rape hoax that was reported by Rolling Stone.

And for OSU, the media's "Jackie" is Mike DiSabato.