Part 3: The Media’s Conspiracy of Silence

The media became willing accomplices of Tom Corbett and  the “Old Guard” BOT by not reporting exculpatory facts in the case of the PSU Three

By

Ray Blehar

The story so far:  In February 2014, I wrote Part 1 of this series, highlighting how the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General (PA OAG) suppressed and manipulated evidence in order to charge former Penn State University (PSU) officials Curley and Schultz with crimes related to the Sandusky scandal.  Two weeks later, in Part 2, I revealed how the PSU Board of Trustees (PSU BOT) engaged with Louis Freeh and various public relations firms to perpetuate a false narrative that former PSU President Graham Spanier and deceased coaching legend, Joe Paterno had concealed Sandusky’s crimes from the public.  

After the release of the Freeh Report, Governor Tom Corbett piled on, condemning the actions of “the prior administration” and “prior people who were in control.”

Corbett stated:  “I’m very disappointed in the lack of forthcoming evidence to the subpoena that was given to them by the Attorney General’s office.” 

The statement was a continuation of a theme of misattribution – or assigning blame or responsibility where it didn’t belong.  It is a fact that Cynthia Baldwin received a letter from the Attorney General in December 2011 that admonished her for failure to comply with grand jury subpoenas.  The letter referenced information that was subpoenaed before Curley, Schultz, and Spanier had any knowledge of the investigation.  Moreover, Schultz was retired at the time of the subpoena, thus had no role in answering that particular request.  Corbett’s July 2012 statement was part of the Commonwealth’s strategy of trying the case in the court of public opinion.  Their allies in the media had the easiest job of all -- do nothing.  Let the public continue to believe that the AG's and Freeh's narratives on the case were not disputed by any of the legal proceedings.  As you will see, they carried out their part magnificently.  

 

Part 3: Keeping the PSU Three Convicted In the Court of Public Opinion

After the release of the Freeh Report, the PA government,  the “old guard” PSU Board of Trustees, and especially the local media did everything in their power to ensure that the PSU Three (Spanier, Curley, and Schultz) remained convicted in the court of public opinion.    

About three months after the release of the Freeh Report and Corbett’s presser accusing the “prior administration” of wrong-doing, the OAG made the Freeh Report "official" by issuing the Conspiracy of Silence presentment (or the Freeh Report-Lite).  The conspiracy and obstruction charges in the presentment were mostly based on the testimony of former PSU Counsel Cynthia Baldwin, who claimed that the PSU Three were uncooperative in responding to the grand jury subpoenas.