I Am (NOT) Making This Up

Here is what I was (not) taught at SUNY Oswego.

“I just spoke with coach yada yada and they said that their team really sucks right now and can’t get out of their own way.”  No….wait, that’s not it……let me think about this and try again.  Oh yeah!  Here is how that went…..”I just spoke with coach yada yada and they said that their team lacks chemistry and they are 0-4 on the power play.”  Oh……wait, they aren’t 0-4 on the power play?   What do you mean…..the coach said it.  I was paraphrasing!  What I meant was, they can’t score on the power play?  Facts?  Oh, you said Facts?  What are those?  We need facts as sideline reporters?  Get outta here!  For real!?!? Huh! Who knew??

What else do you think Fox Sports sideline reporter Charissa Thompson made up?  Is this a dirty little secret within the sports broadcasting industry?  HELL NO!  My wonderful alma mater taught me to always tell the truth when reporting news and to vet sources AND REPORT FACTS.  Sideline reporting is news, ya know.  You are reporting on the facts that someone is providing you, direct from the horse’s mouth.  But apparently, Charissa Thompson doesn’t abide by that rule.

During a recent interview on “Pardon My Take,” Thompson admitted that if she couldn’t get an interview or simply didn’t have anything, she would just make things up.  She fabricated!  She lied! How else do you want to say it?  And then she has the gall to say she was taken out of context and she never lied.  Don’t think so, Charissa, it came from the horse’s mouth. Apology not accepted.  And no other respectable sports reporter, journalist or anyone that still wishes for a free press should accept it. 

The state of the news and media is already in an uphill fight against reporting facts. It seems some entities, including the one that Thompson works for, are allergic to it. While we shouldn’t take sports as seriously as we do, the fact is, a member of the media in sports admitted to lying.  That shouldn’t sit well with anyone.  I’m not one to call for anyone’s firing, and I won’t do it here. But she sure as shit doesn’t have my respect anymore. 

Note to any aspiring journalists, sports or otherwise: Don’t do what she did!  I think that should go without saying.