College Football 2011: Stop the Presses, the Newton Case is Really Over

The proof is in after months of an orchestrated smear campaign against Auburn University.

The coaching staff, boosters and fans were all directly or indirectly accused of cheating and publically smeared. This recent interview with the NCAA president clearly states that there is no evidence that Auburn was involved in the Cecil Newton scandal that surrounds Mississippi State.

Auburn was roundly accused of paying Cameron Newton to attend the university.

Hundreds of articles right here on Bleacher Report have speculated about the guilt of Auburn. The false rumors got so out of hand that recent rumors speculated that major Auburn boosters were paying players in casinos, from banks and from almost any other businesses of former Auburn alums. 

The original articles accusing Auburn of wrongdoing, written by such esteemed reporters as Thayer Evans, Pete Thamel and Joe Schad, were so erroneous as to spark a controversy over journalistic standards. Did they apologize or admit to being wrong more than right? NO

Those particular journalists have a long history of reporting erroneous stories about the Auburn athletic program. These stories have been so inaccurate as to hurt their national credibility severely. They even could have been a factor in recent job changes.

“There was no evidence that money changed hands and there was no evidence that Auburn University had anything to do with it.”  This is a direct quote from the president of the NCAA, according to ESPN. Considering they were a major source of the misinformation and innuendo, can we believe them now?

One thing is clear in all of this; the NCAA has found nothing implicating Auburn University in any wrongdoing after months of investigation that now appears over. Will there be five-minute breaking-news updates declaring that Auburn wasn’t dirty after all? No.

It is the practice of the media to ignore their own mistakes while persecuting all others. I would suggest that readers be really particular about what information they believe when reading work from “journalists” that jumped on the anti-Auburn bandwagon and smeared the reputation of a university, their coaching staff, their boosters and their fan base.