The New York Times, Thayer Evans and CYA

wonder if she’s going to let him to talk reporters when he gets to OU? or are they giving her the locker next to his (when she’s not at her new mysteriously timely car/bank/pr job of course)

"I felt like we made the best efforts we could under the circumstances," Evans said.

What circumstances might those be? When was that paper written? When did Evans get it? From whom did he get it? If it wasn’t McFarlane, forget Texas — he owed McFarlane a call to find out why he wrote what he wrote.

Unless, of course, he was told not to say he’d gotten it. If that were the case, to me, the paper becomes worthless. It’s not like the guy is going under cover and publishing state secrets… he was a writing a feature story.

That was a terrible example of how to commit journalism… at least the kind I was taught.

Best effort under the circumstances?

“Evans had stayed close to McFarland and his mother, Kashemeyia Adams, for months, and he recounted an intense courtship of them by coaches and boosters.”

So which one is it, were you with them for months developing a story or was it a last minute holday rush job?

The last minute excuse is transparent nonsense and contradicted by the rest of the story.

Sounds like we lucked out again. Something tells me this kid is going to go down the same path as Bomar and Perrilloux.

CYA indeed. Thayer Evans has gone rogue!

At least when can all remain confident that the kid is serious about academics. That much has got to be true. Right?

From the story:
“(Evans) said that if anyone at Texas had spoken to him, it would have violated N.C.A.A. recruiting rules. And, he said, he did not want to give either Texas or Oklahoma information they could use to try to influence McFarland’s decision.”

1) It’s not against the rules to comment on your own recruiting practices, or to reiterate how Texas had no connection to any such “party.” (Like say, “We don’t do things like that.”) It’s only against the rules to talk about specific recruits.

2) Technically, McFarland is still recruitable. Why Evans believed it was “fair” to let Texas get hammered without doing a minimum of checking is beyond me.

Haven’t cared to click. Is he still posting on that blog?

I once worked with Thayer and he embezzled millions from orphan aid agencies to the third world.

It does look like the Times is trying to put everything on McFarland and to protect their editor, Evans. I suppose it’s not surprising that they would do so.

However, McFarland is an established OU homer, and it was the editors responsibility to make sure the work had been checked, especially with a story as inflammatory as this one was.

Great article.
 
That was as an uncomfortable combination of distancing and feeble excuse-making as I’ve ever seen. I was picturing a guy who just stepped off the elevator in the Four Seasons with his mistress in tow running smack dab into his wife’s best friend.

And here we have the NYT seeking a bailout of its own. Shocking. [/feigned surprise]

As I posted when this originally came out, the key is that the editors didn’t question any of it when they were reading it.

That means they believed it, or at least that it was plausible. It also means that the story didn’t really mean enough to them to make the effort.

I’ve been in newsrooms on Christmas Eve, so the latter definitely was a factor. They’re plugging the space with stuff that can be read in English, so that they can get out of there as fast as possible.

If Evans had tried to put that story into, say, the DMN, it never would have happened. The DMN is much more likely to understand the context.

The NYT has become the equivalent of the Weekly World News.

As for the rascist slurs from Texas fans alleged by Nutty Mommy, I call bullshit.

I’m sure our rivals in the recruiting realm will cut and paste the unsubstantiated allegation that J-Mac and his momma have been the subject of racial slurs from Texas fans. So the hit-piece will be the gift that keeps on giving for those who hate the Horns and the so-called retraction is as damaging as the original piece.

When will the New York Times disclose that Evans is a shameless homer for one of the cheatingest programs in college football history? Fuck Thayer Evans and The New York Times.

When you say “Fuck The New York Times” you must realize they are on the brink of bankruptcy and face litigation for making up a story about John McCain and a Thayer-Evans-style-BS-factless-hatchet-job-biased-story affair.

The government they want a bailout from is the one they spent years making up conspiracy theories about. They are all kinds of fucked and Longhorn fans need not waste their energy hating a soon to be extinct organization.

I anxiously await the demise of the Times, for any number of reasons that don’t all involve Longhorn football.

Hopefully, when Thayer Evans loses his sugar teat, he can get a job washing dishes during the graveyard shift at Denny’s.

Maybe it wasn’t Thayer Evans. But I heard he did it.

The thing that irritates me the most about all this is that when the story broke, a number of sites (Deadspin, Doc Saturday, EDSBS, etc.) all talked about what a great story it was mainly because of the lurid description of the party.

Which may or may not have ever happened at all.

Now, will any of those blog sites come back and say “we may have spoken too soon about the greatness of this article, sorry ’bout that Texas”?

Who knows. I do know the NYT has never given back their Pulitzer for Walter Duranty’s reporting on the Ukrainian famine.

So they discuss their issue with the original story throwing out baseless allegations only to allow for more baseless allegations of racial slurs in the new article?

What famine?

Joseph Stalin is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.

This “explanation” from a Times editor sounds more like an alibi, while giving the paper the opportunity to dump on UT fans with mama’s “racist comments” comment.

I spent a long time in the journalism field, and from my first day in the business, I understood that you confirm everything. You also make an attempt to contact BOTH sides in a dispute, whether or not it’s a holiday.

The bad thing for the UT football team is that the damage is done, and no lame explanation is going to undo it. Opponents can cut and paste what they need for negative recruiting, and use the line that hey, this is from a national newspaper.

If the NY Times was once a great newspaper, it’s salad days are over. I would expect more credible reporting from the Star or National Enquirer. I suppose the Times would be okay to wrap fish…or not. It might taint them.

Stephen Glass didn’t have a problem with Evans’ article.

Besides, who can blame a guy for letting things slide a bit on a holiday like Christmas?

In fact, I consider Evans’ work as intellectually honest and worthy of a Pulitzer as my very own…

Look for Jackie Shipp to break up with mom on February 5, 2009.

I’m disappointed at thebiglead.com’s take on the situation. They/he are/is totally ignorant of the facts.

“I spent a long time in the journalism field, and from my first day in the business, I understood that you confirm everything”

Not anymore. Not it’s “confirm everything that fits the preconstructed narrative”. Anything that runs counter to the narrative is, of course, a lie.

I was just reporting on the mighty Sooners (Boomer Sooner!) and was not biased in the least covering the outrageous atrocities perpetrated by the Texass alumni and athletic supporters.

I don’t hate the sorry, no-good longhorns in the least, Texass!!

My problem is where are the UT lawyers and Bellmont Hall?

The good news is that with Carlos Slim underwriting the NYT, you can expect their football coverage to improve. Oops, I meant futbol.

“My problem is where are the UT lawyers and Bellmont Hall?”

Not a whole lot for them to do on this one.

Sailor Ripley-your articles suck, ignorant scum bag.

I want to thank FUCK YOU for having the courage to voice what the majority of America has been feeling for a long time.

FUCK YOU -

I know. That’s why I don’t write very many of them.

Catchy username.

I want to thank FUCK YOU for having the courage to use his real name.

He’s from Singapore.

Why didn’t Dr.J Horn just use his normal handle?