Storyline: We have enough drama in our society as it is. While it’s perfectly acceptable to report facts in situations like the Aaron Hernandez case, to speculate about why is over the top.
Last Wednesday morning sports fans everywhere awoke to discover that former New England Patriots’ tight end, Aaron Hernandez, had hung himself in his cell at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, MA.
Hernandez was found by guards with the words “John 3:16” written on his forehead. Three handwritten notes were found beside an open Bible.
Courtesy: CBS Boston
Convicted in April 2015 of murdering former semi-pro football player and friend, Odin Lloyd, Hernandez was serving a life sentence for 1st Degree murder. He was sentenced without chance of parole.
The evidence pointed to Hernandez guilt. He destroyed his home security system; hired house cleaners on the day of the murder; and smashed his cell phone.
The fall from glory could not have been more sudden for Hernandez—the boy from Connecticut who had become a pro football star.
And while Hernandez was certainly no saint, another travesty associated with this story is the way media covered the chain of events. Many will likely see that coverage as “good sports writing.”
I don’t.
From the get-go–from allegations, to arrest, to trial, to suicide–the media have been bloodhounds around Hernandez and his family.
DJ Hernandez (Matthew Holst/Getty Images, published in SI)
Look at what happened to Hernandez’s older brother, D.J. He had his identity stolen. The thief? The media.
Hernandez, a graduate assistant coach at the University of Iowa in 2013, aspired to be a college football coach. But the whispers behind his back and physical similarity to his younger brother proved to be too much. Hernandez left the Hawkeyes, moved out of state, and took a job as a roofer. He’s known today as “Jonathan Hernandez.”
Hernandez’s mother, Terri, sobbed uncontrollably upon hearing the news about her son’s arrest. She felt as though it was her fault for the way her son had turned out–thoughts that would come across many a mother’s mind in a situation like this.
But the nation was watching. And it was judging, too. The whispers were: ‘Oh, he must have had a bad home life.”
The reality is quite different. For proof read Michael Rosenberg’s article in Sports Illustrated. Rosenberg writes that Hernandez lived happily in Bristol, CT with his mom, dad, and older brother. Life changed when his dad, Dennis, passed away from complications during a hernia surgery when Aaron was 16 years old.
We’ll never know for sure why Aaron Hernandez turned into a killer. But speculation abounds. Society seems to have an endless appetite for speculation and the drama that surrounds it.
We live in a Criminal Minds and Law and Order: SVU society. People are more likely to read a story about an athlete committing murder than to read a story about an athlete doing charity work.
And when an athlete has a great reputation, there’s the constant effort to smear his or her good name. Consider sexual assault rumors that have followed Peyton Manning for decades–going all the way back to his time at Tennessee. Nothing has ever been proven.
Why won’t the media let go?
I think it’s because a lot of people want to see somebody, like Manning, fall from grace. And. if anything, the Hernandez story is a lot more juicy. Hernandez had everything. Then he lost everything. And he lost it all right before our very eyes.
Were some people hoping he would fall?
Were they cheering when he did?
The answer is no doubt, ‘yes,’ to both questions. And, all the while, sportswriters were recounting the sad tale, many putting their own twist on it.
They were giving people exactly what they wanted.
I think that’s what sports journalism has come to. It’s far from ‘just reporting the facts,’ like it used to be back in the day. It has become a form of entertainment–drama for escapism.
Personally, I can say this: My love of sports has pushed me towards being a sportswriter. But, as I get more involved in this field, I dread the negative bias and drama involved in today’s sports media.
Courtesy: Network World.com
I think we have enough drama and negativity in society as it is. And while it’s perfectly acceptable to report the facts in situations like this, to speculate and debate over why it happened is over the top.
As a sportswriter I would like to extend a sincere apology to the Hernandez family, the New England Patriots. Florida Gators fans, and others across the country who are fed up with this type of coverage.
You all deserve better.
We all do.
