Traditional Media Swept Away in Coverage of Hurricanes' Scandal

By now, the scandal at “The U” has been discussed ad nauseum. 

We’ve heard how former players are disgusted at Nevin Shapiro and his antics of essentially paying off players for some type of kinship, including the words of Michael Irvin labeling Shapiro as a “rapist.”

We’ve heard about the baffling role of administrators and seen photos with Shapiro interacting with them, including Miami university president Donna Shalala gleefully accepting a $50,000 check from Shapiro.

We’ve read about the parties, the strippers, the cash, the boats and the sex.

Much has been discussed regarding this subject, but through it all, the question of the media’s role—or at least, the traditional media—in breaking this story surprisingly hasn’t been broached.  It begs the debate of how traditional media missed the boat when the World Wide Web was in its prepubescent stages and continues to play catch-up.

In May 2005, a large contingent of publishers and editors from some of the most prominent newspapers and magazines came together at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg to discuss “watchdog journalism” and the role journalists play in giving power to the people.   The group of more than 30 publishers and editors convened with members of Poynter and representatives from several top public service journalism organizations in a conference named, “Creating A Watchdog Culture: Claiming An Essential Newspaper Role.”

During one of the conference’s exercises, as restated on the Institute’s website, the participants generated headlines for watchdog journalism and came up with examples like:

Watchdog journalism is digging deeper on a daily basis.  It’s journalism that holds power brokers accountable.

Watchdog journalism is doing a better job of what got us into the business in the first place.

 Watchdog journalism is just kick ass and take names. [sic]

When Yahoo investigative reporter Charles Robinson released his detailed feature of Nevin Shapiro’s scandalous relationship with Miami athletics and seemingly everyone associated with “The U” from 2002-2010, the thing that immediately struck me was the increased prominence of online sports entities in breaking news and the interesting absence of traditional sports journalists as watchdogs in this story, particularly with newspapers in the university’s backyard.

How could beat writers and columnists from the Miami Herald, the Palm Beach Post and the Sun Sentinel let such an opportunity to serve as watchdog slip by?

According to Dylan Stableford, Senior Media Reporter for The Cutline blog on Yahoo, Robinson conducted more than 100 hours of jailhouse interviews during his 11-month investigation into Shapiro’s allegations in which Shapiro, well, told Robinson everything.

How could nearly an entire decade go by without any member of the media close to “The U” ever question who Nevin Shapiro was and what role he played in Miami athletics?

Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard, who rapper Luther Campbell claims in numerous interviews led to Campbell’s disassociation with the university, claimed in an interview with Dan Patrick that he didn’t think Shapiro was a big part of the program.

Le Batard may minimize Shapiro in sweeping statements, but it is hard to fathom when Shapiro was front-and-center for everything from leading the team out of the tunnel to parading himself through Miami’s ritzy nightclubs like Tony Montana to presenting checks to Shalala at charitable functions to hosting and hanging out with seemingly every big time player of the Hurricanes’ football and basketball teams.

Most revealing is Robinson’s account of Shapiro going on a rampage against David Reed, the school’s associate athletic director for compliance, in the Orange Bowl press box during halftime of Virginia’s shellacking of the Hurricanes on Nov. 10, 2007.

Le Batard dismissing Shapiro as a bit player and telling Patrick it’s “the same story over and over again” is like the innocent bystander in the hood never reporting a crime for fear of retribution from a gang member or two.  You know what’s happening, you see it going down and you know something is probably wrong, but you tell yourself to mind your own business.

He continues by stating the battle to fight issues in college football is like “trying to police the drug trade with a mall cop.”

Le Batard may take this stance in relation to how much he believes the NCAA can do, but he must remember that the role of journalist is to always stay diligent in the search for truth by not acting like “a mall cop.” 

As a part of the Poynter Institute’s conference on watchdog journalism, one of the solutions for a newspaper to identify and measure how journalists are upholding this premise states:

Readers should expect to see stories that hold institutions accountable; aggressive ongoing     coverage; a skeptical, investigative attitude that extends through every story and every section of the paper; attention to what’s under the radar as well as to big international and national stories; consumer focus; enterprise reporting.

In fact, the Miami Herald had a chance to become a watchdog when it printed a story in August, 2010 detailing Shapiro’s announcement to write a book entitled “The Real U: 2001 to 2010.  Inside the Eye of the Hurricane.”  In the article, written by Barry Jackson, it illustrates the sleaze now known around the sports world as ponzi schemer Shapiro, including how he promised to expose more than 100 athletes who broke NCAA rules.

But for some reason, Jackson and the Miami Herald editors and writers left it at that.

Stableford notes how ESPN’s Kelly Naqi and HBO’s “Real Sports” made an attempt to secure an interview with Shapiro, but Robinson eventually landed one him because of Robinson’s due diligence in reporting.

Stableford reprints a statement by Shapiro’s attorney, Maria Elena Perez, to CNN that defines the whole notion of watchdog journalism:

“Charles did a better job than anyone who came my way, that’s why we gave him the story,” Perez said.

Robinson’s reporting desire to dig stemmed from his ability to put two-and-two together and then do what journalists do.

According to Stableford, Robinson heard a tip about Shapiro going to jail, his association with several Miami football players and his ownership of the sports agency, Axcess Sports.  Those three elements gave Robinson the “thumbnail” to investigate Florida state business records.

Shapiro would later tell Robinson that he respected the Yahoo reporter because he demonstrated he had done the “legwork.”

“No one else had known about his agency,” Robinson told Stableford.

So while Le Batard may create revisionist history in how Shapiro appeared to him, it is apparent traditional media missed the boat entirely.

Ironically enough, it still does in this story.

Just this past Friday, Campbell, who writes a weekly column for the Miami New Times, a small alternative paper in the South Florida region, broke the story that former Hurricanes football coach Randy Shannon warned his assistants to stay away from Shapiro and “if he caught them with Shapiro, he would fire them.”

Le Batard got something right.

It is “the same story over and over again.”

The traditional media just keeps missing it.