ESPN trying to wipe egg off their face

[kris]

They tried to blame the police

They tried to portray T.O. as a liar

The bottom line is they took a story and ran with it without full knowledge

[MosesGuthrie]

Fox News did the same this morning.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Dan Le Batard ripping into Wingo.

Nice.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

This is fucking classic.

[MosesGuthrie]

Wingo trying to fight back.

[johnsmith]

I'm missing everything. What's going on?

[ducks]

if the police report said he tried to kill himself the media has every right to ran with the story

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I'm missing everything. What's going on?

Le Batard said that no matter what T.O. says, ESPN will go back to the police report and essentially believe that over what T.O. says.

He made a point in saying that T.O. tells the truth and it hurts him a lot of times, so he'd believe whatever T.O. said at this press conference.

Called ESPN out on their coverage of the hamstring injury and how this is going the same route.

Wingo's only comeback could be that Le Batard used the words "T.O.'s version."

[kris]

Dan Le Batard ripping into Wingo.

Nice.

I loved it.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

if the police report said he tried to kill himself the media has every right to ran with the story

And I don't disagree with you. You source the information and allow your listeners/readers to decide. What you also need to do, though, is go to every length to get all sides/sources of the story.

[kris]

if the police report said he tried to kill himself the media has every right to ran with the story

No, they didn't. Like Dan Le Batard said, "police reports aren't facts."

[kris]

ESPN keeps trying to act like the Dallas Police reported this story, but ESPN actually reported on a stolen document.

BUSTED.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

No, they didn't. Like Dan Le Batard said, "police reports aren't facts."

True. They're not facts, but they're generally accepted as credible information with the information able to be sourced.

But when I say "credible," realize this is the Dallas Police Department and they've had their issues with credibilities and the Cowboys. Not to say that the Cowboys haven't had their own issues.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

ESPN keeps trying to act like the Dallas Police reported this story, but ESPN actually reported on a stolen document.

BUSTED.

In their "defense," WFAA reported that.

ESPN has been sourcing WFAA all morning.

[kris]

If they want to report on it fine, but ESPN was treating it as fact and expounding upon that fact. They are trying to pretend like that report was meant to come out as well - like the police issued a statement. They didn't. ESPN dug it up.

ESPN is completely irresponsible.

[MosesGuthrie]

Damn....Wingo interrupting John Clayton too....easy bro! :)

[kris]

In their "defense," WFAA reported that.

ESPN has been sourcing WFAA all morning.

That's just as irresponsible. You can't keep pointing to other sources when you're the one that repeatedly breaks the stories.

I'm not just talking about this story.

[Buddy Holly]

ESPN dug it up.

No they didn't. For someone high on the facts, you should first get yours right.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

If they want to report on it fine, but ESPN was treating it as fact and expounding upon that fact. They are trying to pretend like that report was meant to come out as well - like the police issued a statement. They didn't. ESPN dug it up.

ESPN is completely irresponsible.

Eh, I didn't hear ESPN after the live airing of the DPD PIO's statement, but on the replays, they said DPD was neither confirming or denying.

ESPN isn't without blame because they have kept it going (especially bringing it in about Philly and SF "possibly" asking him about his mental health), but the first stories about suicide (if I read them correctly), were from WFAA and added upon by the Associated Press (which would lead me to believe the Star-Telegram and the DMN).

I am glad that ESPN at least has their only credible journalist on this (Bob Ley).

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

That's just as irresponsible. You can't keep pointing to other sources when you're the one that repeatedly breaks the stories.

I'm not just talking about this story.

On that note, I would like to talk about the story Boutons posted from the Washington Post.

How do you byline a story that is built solely on other agencies reports? That story sourced WFAA and the AP.

I doubt the WP had a reporter in Dallas and if they did, they failed to use a dateline.

[Buddy Holly]

If that woman who called the police is on the 911 tapes saying TO took 35 pills and was taking two more and she was trying to make him throw up... well...

[kris]

No they didn't. For someone high on the facts, you should first get yours right.

I've been watching ESPN since 8:00 am this morning. I know ESPN didn't actually dig it up. It was shorthand as I was quickly replying.

[johnsmith]

On that note, I would like to talk about the story Boutons posted from the Washington Post.

How do you byline a story that is built solely on other agencies reports? That story sourced WFAA and the AP.

I doubt the WP had a reporter in Dallas and if they did, they failed to use a dateline.


Boutons frequently posts articles from the Washington Post without thinking about it. Don't worry about it.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Boutons frequently posts articles from the Washington Post without thinking about it. Don't worry about it.

I don't GAF about Boutons.

I do GAF about a paper I consider respected and something within the industry that I believe is a problem in journalism.

[Buddy Holly]

He more than likely tried to kill himself. More than likely was called his publicist as a last ditch effort/cry for help. She gets there he's still taking them then see calls the police.

Of course they're now going to try and spin this so it doesn't hurt his image. His PR people, his agent, and his team will spin this.

[kris]

Eh, I didn't hear ESPN after the live airing of the DPD PIO's statement, but on the replays, they said DPD was neither confirming or denying.

ESPN isn't without blame because they have kept it going (especially bringing it in about Philly and SF "possibly" asking him about his mental health), but the first stories about suicide (if I read them correctly), were from WFAA and added upon by the Associated Press (which would lead me to believe the Star-Telegram and the DMN).

I am glad that ESPN at least has their only credible journalist on this (Bob Ley).

ESPN also brought in Tom Friend to talk about how Terrell Owens' mom gave birth to him when he was 16 and how his father was a neighbor. Then an elderly gentlemen came up to Terrell and told him not to like a certain girl because she was his half sister or something.

Then, Michael Smith told a story about how he showed up to a Javon Kearse halloween party and stood against the wall in a ghost costume and didn't talk to anyone.

This all from a police report that he tried to harm himself.

Yeah, real responsible.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

ESPN also brought in Tom Friend to talk about how Terrell Owens' mom gave birth to him when he was 16 and how his father was a neighbor. Then an elderly gentlemen came up to Terrell and told him not to like a certain girl because she was his half sister or something.

Then, Michael Smith told a story about how he showed up to a Javon Kearse halloween party and stood against the wall in a ghost costume and didn't talk to anyone.

This all from a police report that he tried to harm himself.

Yeah, real responsible.

I agree.

That's the problem with 24/7 news. You have to fill the time. Many try to fill it with "analysis."

JonBenet and John Mark Carr.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

For my Dallas-area coverage, nothing beats the Star-Telegram.

[johngateswhiteley]

They tried to blame the police

They tried to portray T.O. as a liar

The bottom line is they took a story and ran with it without full knowledge


what else is new? the media is bunch of fat whores.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Analysis and "reader blogs" are the bane of journalism.

People try to be the funniest and then the best ones make the "air."

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

what else is new? the media is bunch of fat whores.

I'm not a whore.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

This re-run of a Jeremy Schapp story is pretty fucked up to be running right now simply to fill time.

Hey, ESPN! I have an idea on how to fill the time. You know that replay of the '95 AFC Championship that has been pre-empted.

Maybe you should run that!

[MosesGuthrie]

Johnny Blaze is better than half his comrades right now.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

If I don't leave now, I'll never get anything I wanted to get done, so I'm going to have some lunch with my girlfriend.

Anybody who would like to keep a running ticker of what the networks/outlets do would be appreciated, but I'm certain I'll turn ESPN on my satellite radio when I jump in truck.

Back later, people.

Oh, and I'm wearing my Cowboys cap.

[johnsmith]

If I don't leave now, I'll never get anything I wanted to get done, so I'm going to have some lunch with my girlfriend.

Anybody who would like to keep a running ticker of what the networks/outlets do would be appreciated, but I'm certain I'll turn ESPN on my satellite radio when I jump in truck.

Back later, people.

Oh, and I'm wearing my Cowboys cap.


Burn the hat.

[johngateswhiteley]

I'm not a whore.


was i only 50% correct?

[kris]

Now it's a "raw document" they took the information with and ran with.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

was i only 50% correct?

Well, I am overweight...so yeah.

[kskonn]

Now it's a "raw document" they took the information with and ran with.

Yea a raw document, in which they have stated on ESPN radio numerous times as, "Folks these are all FACTS from a raw document" and then quick to say as reported on by WFAA. Irresponsible.

[kris]

The words "raw document" were just invented by Bob Ley or whatever his name is. None of their morning coverage ever referred to a raw document. They referred to it as a police report.

[kskonn]

The words "raw document" were just invented by Bob Ley or whatever his name is. None of their morning coverage ever referred to a raw document. They referred to it as a police report.

Invented?????? but it has FACTS!!!!! :rolleyes :rolleyes

[kskonn]

It will probably eventually be described as an untitled document, or a unknown source.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I didn't listen to the whole conference with the police people, but I'm certain it was asked.

If the report was so wrong or unofficial, how did it get out without redaction?

I understand humans are human and miss things (hell, in a murder case, the San Angelo PD forgot to redact witness contact information in the incident report I requested...and just so it's clear, I never had to use the information, I never reported it, and I told the department's PIO that I had that information based on their report so they could make sure others wouldn't get it).

The Dallas Police Dept. will have to answer many questions about how this got out enough to be referenced. It sounded like those on the scene were asking some of the right questions, the PD was simply pleading ignorance.

[T Park]

I understand humans are human and miss things (hell, in a murder case, the San Angelo PD forgot to redact witness contact information in the incident report I requested...and just so it's clear, I never had to use the information, I never reported it, and I told the department's PIO that I had that information based on their report so they could make sure others wouldn't get it).




You have way too much class to be a reporter Johnny.

[gospursgojas]

ESPN is begining to be a network of propaganda, from this story to the whole Steve Nash MVP story (winning the MVP only b.c he is white)

Being more about ratings than sports.

[T Park]

to the whole Steve Nash MVP story (winning the MVP only b.c he is white)



To be fair that was Dan Le Betard that did that whole angle, not exclusively ESPN i don't believe.

[gospursgojas]

Wow
Dan Le Batard: That is what TO wants his "version" to be

Why don't they just believe him, stop blaming the police, and say that they ran with a story without knowing the facts

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

GSG, are you listening to the radio or TV? I heard Mortensen say that on TV.

And that's funny about Le Batard because he was very vocal in a phone call earlier that he was far more apt to believe T.O. givne his track record of shooting from the hip.

[ducks]

Owens denies he tried to kill himself

By JAIME ARON, AP Sports Writer
September 27, 2006

AP - Sep 27, 11:42 am EDT
More Photos



DALLAS (AP) -- Flamboyant Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens denied a police report he attempted suicide, saying he became groggy after mixing painkillers with supplements.

He said Wednesday the confusion likely stemmed from an empty bottle of pain medication found by his publicist, who was with him at the time and called 911. He said the rest of the pills were in a drawer.

"I was non-responsive when she made that call," Owens said. "She made the call out of her judgment for my well-being."

Appearing in a news conference at team headquarters a few hours after leaving a hospital for what a police report described as "a drug overdose," Owens wore workout gear and no bandage on his broken right hand. The star receiver smiled and seemed more amused than peeved at the latest ruckus surrounding him.

Owens blamed a combination of hydrocodone, a generic form of Vicodin, with all-natural supplements for making him ill.

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"It's very unfortunate for it to go from an allergic reaction to a suicide attempt," he said.

Owens was released from the hospital before noon. He flashed a thumbs-up to reporters as he left, went home, then made it to team headquarters in time to catch passes from quarterback Drew Bledsoe.

Rescue workers arrived at Owens' home around 8 p.m. Tuesday and took him to an emergency room. When word spread, publicist Kim Etheredge said it was an allergic reaction.

But the story shifted Wednesday morning when several media outlets received a police report -- that had yet to be released by the authorities -- saying Owens had attempted suicide by overdosing on the painkillers, even putting two more pills into his mouth after an unidentified friend, later identified as Etheredge, intervened.

The police document, first reported by WFAA-TV, said Owens was asked by rescue workers "if he was attempting to harm himself, at which time (he) stated: 'Yes."'
When officially released by police, about half the document was blacked out, including the phrases "attempting suicide by prescription pain medication" and "a drug overdose," as well as the details of Owens having two pills pried from his mouth and Owens saying "Yes" when asked if he intended to harm himself.

"I wasn't coherent as they probably thought I was," Owens said. "A number of people were asking me questions. I don't remember the police officers that were in there or the doctors that were in there."

Owens said he feels capable of playing Sunday in Tennessee, despite this incident and his broken hand. He added that he's "not depressed about anything" and that he expects to practice Thursday.

Etheredge also appeared at Owens' news conference, saying she "did not take anything out of his mouth."

"This is sad," she said. "Terrell had a reaction to different pills, and just to state he was trying to commit suicide it was unfair."

"Terrell has 25 million reasons why he should be alive," she added, referring to the $25 million, three-year contract he signed in March with the Cowboys.

"I'm just upset," Etheredge added. "I feel they take advantage of Terrell. Had this been someone else, this may not have happened."

Dallas police officials declined to comment on Etheredge's denials. "We can't discuss the police report because of privacy laws," said a spokesman, Sgt. Gil Cerda.



Updated
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-cowboys-tosuicideattempt&prov=ap&type=lgns

[ducks]

espn is not the only media outlet people should be ticked out
if they are mad they ran the story

[Vizzini]

By Dan Le Batard
Special to ESPN.com


I believe Terrell Owens. No matter how noisy this all gets. No matter how loud the voices of publicists and agents and friends and coaches and psychiatric experts and police officers rise in unison into a tower of babble. No matter how many people come to this conversation with their own baggage and their own version of the truth, which isn't the truth at all. And no matter how contradictory and complicated even the voice of T.O. can be much of the time. I believe Terrell Owens.


I've seen too many things a lot less complicated than this get confused and clouded and misdiagnosed when it comes to the very famous Terrell Owens and the spinning swirl that perpetually surrounds him. So on the subject of whether he really tried to kill himself -- Owens adamantly denies it -- I'm siding with the only guy who was inside his head at the time, and I'm doing so even if that head was clouded at the time by too much pain medication.


Maybe that makes me very naive. Or maybe it makes me fair. Maybe it makes me a stupid player apologist. Or maybe it makes me nonjudgmental about the way I cover sports. Either way, we're all a little clouded when it comes to T.O. and his behavior, so I guess it just took too many pills to make him more like the rest of us.


My first reaction to news of a suicide attempt? I didn't believe it. I'm not talking about disbelief or shock. I literally didn't believe it. I believed it was the pills talking. I believe there was some sort of adverse reaction to the medication that made Owens loopy. I've seen people very close to me become something else, something unrecognizable, when chemically altered by the wrong medicine. Owens is many things -- complicated, defiant, stubborn, moody -- but he is not a liar. If he tried to kill himself, I believe he'd tell you. He doesn't do spin control. Doesn't even know how, I believe. He'd avoid an awful lot of his messes if he did.


For all his muscled and psychological armor, he is oddly open about his shortcomings and scars. He admits to being sensitive and wanting to be liked. He admits he has so much trouble showing affection that he just recently got comfortable with telling his mother he loves her. And he cries when talking about his grandmother, whom he appreciates even though he was shackled to his front yard as a child and only escaped when she passed out from the drinking.


He doesn't much care how things look, or dressing up and camouflaging his weaknesses. It isn't right that Steve Mariucci once flew to Atlanta to talk to him and extended a hand as an olive branch, and Owens merely stared at that hand as if it were covered in leprosy. But Owens tells that story, not proudly, about how stubborn and proud he can be even though he knows those who don't like him will take it as reaffirmation that he is a one-dimensional-stick-figure-cartoon-character and that the one-dimensional-stick-figure-cartoon-character is a complete and total jerk and nothing else.


You saw how convoluted and messy and loud things got when it was just his hamstring. So now we're going to try to climb inside a vastly more hard to understand muscle like his brain? We've seen in a very public way how alcohol can alter a Mel Gibson, so it is possible that Owens had no idea where he was or what he was saying when he allegedly told a paramedic he was trying to harm himself. But everything that happens after that is just more proof of how polarizing he can be, of how he makes us take sides. You can believe him and leave it at that. Or you can call him a liar because it reaffirms your belief of who you already think him to be.


We do this all the time in sports. We grab the stuff that supports our likes and dislikes. If you like Brett Favre and think him a monument, you ignore his selfishness and his former painkiller addiction and his refusal to tutor Aaron Rodgers and his lack of support for holdout Javon Walker. If you dislike Randy Moss, you hold up as symbolic his crass mooning of the Green Bay crowd as an indictment of everything he is even though it is no more a complete picture than another little thing he does in the end zone when he gives a touchdown football to the kid in a wheelchair.


Facts? There are very few of those. So we'll waddle into the unknown and pick and choose whatever supports our own baggage. It was a sports figure who taught us just how two groups of people could see the same set of facts differently. His name was O.J. Simpson.


Like him or hate him, Owens has always given you his truth. It may be a narcissistic, one-sided, persecuted version of the truth, but it is honestly the way he sees things, like it or not. One of his biggest public relations problems is that he is relentlessly honest and sometimes seems completely unfamiliar with the concept of tact. Graceful on the field, clumsy off it. In this case, it sounds like T.O.'s version of the truth was clouded by a mixture of medications. But who in the world is more qualified to tell you whether or not he was thinking about killing himself than him?


T.O. and I are in our second year doing a weekly radio show together, but I'm not going to pretend to know him. You can't put someone's life together even with the entire scrapbook in your hands, so I'm not going to try when armed with just a couple of snapshots. I'm not an authority on the guy. I don't know him socially. But I will tell you this: The last two weeks, he sounded happier than I've ever heard him.


Last year, I felt like I was interviewing him by prying a crowbar into the side of his mouth. He was clearly unhappy in a way that was overt in Philadelphia, and he didn't hide it, and that made our interviews like head-butting sometimes. He laughed very infrequently. An example: After his first touchdown catch following an offseason of turmoil, I told him I was very disappointed that he didn't give us one of his patented celebrations. I was joking, being sarcastic. His response was defensive, persecuted -- as it often is. He thought I really was disappointed in him and went off on one of his rants -- not entirely unjustified -- about how the media sees only the bad in everything he does.

Last Friday, though, he couldn't have been more affable. Playing. Joking. Making fun of himself. Talking for a full five minutes about how he is looking forward to buying a terribly unmasculine four-pound dog because he doesn't have much use for the more rabid pets of Steelers linebacker Joey Porter that recently killed a miniature horse. He was funny, light, free. It is only a snapshot, a grain of sand at the beach, but he certainly didn't sound much like someone thinking of killing himself.


You are welcome to either snapshot.


The one of him laughing on the radio.

Or the one of him being rushed to the hospital.

But neither one of them really tells you who or where he is.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2605082

I think LeBatard (for being a Pistons fan and hating his guts when he fawns over Shaq and Wade, and him taking unnecessary jabs at Detroit) is spot on in his opinion. Why would T.O. lie about it? I think ESPN and everyone else saw T.O., pain killers, overdose and suicide and just ran with it until the specualtion became a bigger story than getting ot the bottom of what happened and the truth

[Spurminator]

Why would T.O. lie about it?

Why wouldn't he?

We'll never know for sure either way. All we can do is be happy whatever he did wasn't fatal. At this point it's really nobody's business.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Oh, yeah, by the way...

Apparently, there's a hostage situation at a school in Colorado.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Art/COVER/060927/STG_HZ_SchoolStandoff_145p.jpg

Back to your Terrell Owens coverage.

[Vizzini]

Oh, yeah, by the way...

Apparently, there's a hostage situation at a school in Colorado.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Art/COVER/060927/STG_HZ_SchoolStandoff_145p.jpg

Back to your Terrell Owens coverage.


Sorry, they aren't covering the hostage situation as the main article on ESPN.com, I didn't know about it. Thanks for interupting your midday ride on your high horse to let me know. Let me know if you need help getting back on the saddle.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Sorry, they aren't covering the hostage situation as the main article on ESPN.com, I didn't know about it. Thanks for interupting your midday ride on your high horse to let me know. Let me know if you need help getting back on the saddle.

I'm sorry...did you think I was addressing you?

Considering I have nearly double the amount of posts in this thread than anybody else, this was a general comment about other news of the day.

I have 27 posts in the other thread, too.

So, um, go wash the sand out of your vagina.

And since you were unclear on the intent of my post previous to this one, I am directly telling you to wash the itchy sand out of your vaginal area.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

And since you obviously can't read and notice who makes the posts in which thread (and how obviously hypocritical I'd be for calling anybody out in this thread without aiming it at myself as well), I had posts # 3, 4, 8, 10, 13, 14, 19, 20, 24, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 38, 43, 48, 53 and 55.

I have failed to see anything on this forum about the hostage situation when something like that normally makes news, so I posted it.

You know, hey, there's some other stuff going on in this world that nobody's talking about.

You know, two female students with guns at their heads.

So, when you decide to read, draw some sensible conclusions and take back fucked-up comments about a high horse, maybe then, we can go back to giving a damn what you have to say.

[Vizzini]

I'm sorry...did you think I was addressing you?
No.


Considering I have nearly double the amount of posts in this thread than anybody else, this was a general comment about other news of the day.
Okie dokie.


I have 27 posts in the other thread, too.
Thats great!


So, um, go wash the sand out of your vagina.

And since you were unclear on the intent of my post previous to this one, I am directly telling you to wash the itchy sand out of your vaginal area.

Will do. But do you have to be so condesending?

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Will do. But do you have to be so condesending?


Sorry, they aren't covering the hostage situation as the main article on ESPN.com, I didn't know about it. Thanks for interupting your midday ride on your high horse to let me know. Let me know if you need help getting back on the saddle.


When I get hit with that, you're damn right I will be.

[Vizzini]

So, when you decide to read, draw some sensible conclusions and take back fucked-up comments about a high horse, maybe then, we can go back to giving a damn what you have to say.

What good does it do to be a dick about thinking everyone else in this thread is a dick because they didn't know, or aren't following something that is truly more important than ESPN's agenda? I understand your point and agree with you, but this is the NFL thread and that story is far too great to be buried next to Shaun Alexander's praying, T.O. having a T.O. moment and so forth. I know it is news, but you don't need to be a jerk and try to get us to feel bad for talking about something that we are interested in.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

What good does it do to be a dick about thinking everyone else in this thread is a dick because they didn't know, or aren't following something that is truly more important than ESPN's agenda? I understand your point and agree with you, but this is the NFL thread and that story is far too great to be buried next to Shaun Alexander's praying, T.O. having a T.O. moment and so forth. I know it is news, but you don't need to be a jerk and try to get us to feel bad for talking about something that we are interested in.

Who said I was making you feel bad?

I don't remember saying, "You all need to feel bad because we're not talking about this." You know why I don't remember that? Because I didn't say it. And you know how I'm certain I didn't say it? I'm certain I didn't say it because I was there when I was saying what I did say.

In a commentary thread about ESPN's coverage (and agreeing that 24/7 news is a victim of their own success), a news update about something else going on in the world is an attack against you?

If you see what I wrote as an attack against you, well, then you have to deal with your own conciousness. But the moment you blame me for it, well, don't think I won't react.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Oh, yeah, by the way...

Apparently, there's a hostage situation at a school in Colorado.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Art/COVER/060927/STG_HZ_SchoolStandoff_145p.jpg

Back to your Terrell Owens coverage.

Nope. I didn't say you should feel bad.

I said:

1. There's a hostage situation at a school in Colorado.

2. Back to your T.O. coverage.

I'm sorry your feelings were hurt by a percieved slight.

[Vizzini]

Who said I was making you feel bad?

I don't remember saying, "You all need to feel bad because we're not talking about this." You know why I don't remember that? Because I didn't say it. And you know how I'm certain I didn't say it? I'm certain I didn't say it because I was there when I was saying what I did say.

In a commentary thread about ESPN's coverage (and agreeing that 24/7 news is a victim of their own success), a news update about something else going on in the world is an attack against you?

If you see what I wrote as an attack against you, well, then you have to deal with your own conciousness. But the moment you blame me for it, well, don't think I won't react.


I don't blame you, and did not take it as a personal attack on myself, but you know what you trying to say. Let me state this, so it is obvious: I AGREE WITH YOU! The situation on Colorado is of far more importance and substance, but I am sitting here at work, with no television, offering comentary about a network, who I believe likes to overpromote and saturate stories for their own gain, so I have nothing to offer on what is going on there. Perhaps I took it the worng way, and for that I apologize. It is real easy to get defensive and combative sitting behind a computer screen, and that looks like that is what I did, but I really get aggrivated when I think people are trying to put me down and make me out to be an insensitive asshole. If you are saying that is what you were not trying to do, then I will take your word for it and humbly appologize.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I don't blame you, and did not take it as a personal attack on myself, but you know what you trying to say. Let me state this, so it is obvious: I AGREE WITH YOU! The situation on Colorado is of far more importance and substance, but I am sitting here at work, with no television, offering comentary about a network, who I believe likes to overpromote and saturate stories for their own gain, so I have nothing to offer on what is going on there. Perhaps I took it the worng way, and for that I apologize. It is real easy to get defensive and combative sitting behind a computer screen, and that looks like that is what I did, but I really get aggrivated when I think people are trying to put me down and make me out to be an insensitive asshole. If you are saying that is what you were not trying to do, then I will take your word for it and humbly appologize.

No need to apologize. We (as a society) need to keep asking questions.

Questions about our true thoughts would have resulted in less sniping between the both of us.

[Vizzini]

No need to apologize. We (as a society) need to keep asking questions.

Questions about our true thoughts would have resulted in less sniping between the both of us.


That is very true.

[Kori Ellis]

Why wouldn't he?

We'll never know for sure either way. All we can do is be happy whatever he did wasn't fatal. At this point it's really nobody's business.

Even though, human nature makes me curious to know what really happened. This post pretty much sums up my thoughts.

[Kori Ellis]

I know a lot of people are blaming the media for running with it, but when they had an actual police report (stolen or not), I don't blame them for reporting what was in it.

And if the 911 call gets release and she called it in like a suicide attempt, then I really don't blame them. Because maybe it was.

[ducks]

if they did not run with it they would not be doing their jobs

[Spurminator]

Even though, human nature makes me curious to know what really happened.

Me too, most definitely.

[ShoogarBear]

Even though, human nature makes me curious to know what really happened. This post pretty much sums up my thoughts.On the one hand, yes, this is true.

On the other hand, it's at least ironic, and more likely just plain hypocritical, for someone like T.O. (or Paris Hilton or any other attention whore you care to name) to beg for their privacy after repeatedly shoving themselves unwanted into our faces when it served their purposes. You reap what you sow.

[Guru of Nothing]

What is this ESPN thing everyone keeps referring to?

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I thought this would be interesting considering this topic.



Poynteronline
Posted, Sep. 27, 2006
Updated, Sep. 27, 2006

Covering Suicide -- Attempted, Completed and Otherwise

By Al Tompkins (more by author)

First, we have to say we don’t know whether Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens actually did try to take his own life Tuesday. He says he didn’t and he says his publicist’s call to 911 was a case of a misunderstanding.

Whatever happened, it is an opportunity for journalists to talk about suicide, which is the 11th leading cause of death in this country (far higher than homicide) according to the National Institute of Mental Health. For men overall, suicide is the eighth leading cause of death. Women attempt suicide three times more often than men. (See AMA stats)

The CDC says that, historically, blacks have had a lower suicide rate than whites. But in recent years, the CDC says the suicide rate especially among black youth has been rising.

The NIMH says there are between 8 and 25 attempts for every completed suicide (note I do not say “successful suicide.”)

The CDC says suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people in America.

More than four times as many men die from suicide as women.

Suicide by firearm is the most common method for both men and women, accounting for 57 percent of all suicides in 2000. White men accounted for 73 percent of all suicides and 80 percent of all firearm suicides.

The National Institute of Medicine says:

* Each year about one million people commit suicide worldwide.
* Every year some 30,000 Americans end their lives by suicide, and approximately 650,000 people receive emergency treatment after attempting suicide.
* Every 41 seconds someone in the U.S. attempts suicide; every 16.7 minutes, someone completes suicide; and every day over 85 people die by suicide.
* Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in the U.S. and the third leading cause of death among American youths.
* Over the last 100 years, suicide in the U.S. has out-numbered homicide by at least 3 to 2.
* Almost 4 times as many Americans died by suicide during the Vietnam War era as died in the course of military action.

Whites kill themselves at a much higher rate than blacks.

suicide

The CDC says:
Hispanic males were almost six times as likely to die by suicide as Hispanic females, representing 85 percent of the 8,744 Hispanic suicides between 1997 and 2001. Hispanic youth are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population and account for one fourth of all Hispanic suicide deaths.

Suicide is usually a complicated response to overwhelming problems as opposed to a simple, unplanned reaction to one life challenge. In others words, it is not as simple as saying “he was unhappy with last week’s game” or some such explanation.

The American Association of Suicidology reports that:

Thorough investigation generally reveals underlying problems unrecognized even by close friends and family members. Most victims do however give warning signs of their risk for suicide (see symptoms list below).

Some informants are inclined to suggest that a particular individual, for instance a family member or a health service provider, in some way played a role in the victim’s suicide. Thorough investigation almost always finds multiple causes for suicide and fails to corroborate a simple attribution of responsibility.

Concerns:

• Dramatizing the impact of suicide through descriptions and pictures of grieving relatives, teachers or classmates or community expressions of grief may encourage potential victims to see suicide as a way of getting attention or as a form of retaliation against others.

• Using adolescents on TV or in print media to tell the stories of their suicide attempts may be harmful to the adolescents themselves or may encourage other vulnerable young people to seek attention in this way.

Be Careful With the Language you use in Reporting Suicide

Referring to a “rise” in suicide rates is usually more accurate than calling such a rise an “epidemic,” which implies a more dramatic and sudden increase than what we generally find in suicide rates.

Research has shown that the use in headlines of the word suicide or referring to the cause of death as self-inflicted increases the likelihood of contagion.

Recommendations for language:

• Whenever possible, it is preferable to avoid referring to suicide in the headline. Unless the suicide death took place in public, the cause of death should be reported in the body of the story and not in the headline.

• In deaths that will be covered nationally, such as of celebrities, or those apt to be covered locally, such as persons living in small towns, consider phrasing for headlines such as: “Marilyn Monroe dead at 36,” or “John Smith dead at 48.” Consideration of how they died could be reported in the body of the article.

• In the body of the story, it is preferable to describe the deceased as “having died by suicide,” rather than as “a suicide,” or having “committed suicide.” The latter two expressions reduce the person to the mode of death, or connote criminal or sinful behavior.

• Contrasting “suicide deaths” with “non-fatal attempts” is preferable to using terms such as “successful,” “unsuccessful” or “failed.”

Special Situations/Celebrity Cases

Celebrity deaths by suicide are more likely than non-celebrity deaths to produce imitation. (or copy cat deaths.) Although suicides by celebrities will receive prominent coverage, it is important not to let the glamour of the individual obscure any mental health problems or use of drugs.
Homicide-Suicides

In covering murder-suicides be aware that the tragedy of the homicide can mask the suicidal aspect of the act. Feelings of depression and hopelessness present before the homicide and suicide are often the impetus for both.

Suicide Pacts

Suicide pacts are mutual arrangements between two people who kill themselves at the same time, and are rare. They are not simply the act of loving individuals who do not wish to be separated. Research shows that most pacts involve an individual who is coercive and another who is extremely dependent.

Stories to Consider Covering

• Trends in suicide rates

• Recent treatment advances

• Individual stories of how treatment was life-saving

• Stories of people who overcame despair without attempting suicide

• Myths about suicide

• Warning signs of suicide

• Actions that individuals can take to prevent suicide by others

The American Association of Suicidology passes along these tips:

Here is an easy mnemonic to remember these warning signs:

IS PATH WARM?

I Ideation
S Substance Abuse
P Purposelessness
A Anxiety
T Trapped
H Hopelessness
W Withdrawal
A Anger
R Recklessness
M Mood Changes

Here are some ways to be helpful to someone who is threatening suicide:

* Be direct. Talk openly and matter-of-factly about suicide.
* Be willing to listen. Allow expressions of feelings. Accept the feelings.
* Be non-judgmental. Don’t debate whether suicide is right or wrong, or whether feelings are good or bad. Don’t lecture on the value of life.
* Get involved. Become available. Show interest and support.
* Don’t dare him or her to do it.
* Don’t act shocked. This will put distance between you.
* Don’t be sworn to secrecy. Seek support.
* Offer hope that alternatives are available but do not offer glib reassurance.
* Take action. Remove means, such as guns or stockpiled pills.
* Get help from persons or agencies specializing in crisis intervention and suicide prevention.

Many people at some time in their lives think about completing suicide. Most decide to live because they eventually come to realize that the crisis is temporary and death is permanent. On other hand, people having a crisis sometimes perceive their dilemma as inescapable and feel an utter loss of control. These are some of the feelings and thoughts they experience:

* Can’t stop the pain
* Can’t think clearly
* Can’t make decisions
* Can’t see any way out
* Can’t sleep, eat or work
* Can’t get out of depression
* Can’t make the sadness go away
* Can’t see a future without pain
* Can’t see themselves as worthwhile
* Can’t get someone’s attention
* Can’t seem to get control

If someone you know exhibits these symptoms, offer help!

Contact:

o A community mental health agency
o A private therapist or counselor
o A school counselor or psychologist
o A family physician
o A suicide prevention or crisis center

Finally, here's a dated but still very useful resource from Poynter Online: Reporting on Suicide, by Cindi E. Deutschman-Ruiz.

http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=111251
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