HBO Proves Yellow Journalism is Alive and Well

HBO’s biased and unethical treatment of the topic of “pay for play” in college football in their Wednesday night broadcast “Real Sports” proves that yellow journalism is alive and well.

Am I so naive to think that “pay for play” couldn’t or doesn’t happen? Not at all. But HBO’s show gives no evidence that it does.

Here’s what we have:

1. Four former Auburn players who claim to have received money from an Auburn booster or coach while they were student athletes.

2. All four of these players left Auburn with results ranging from disgruntled to disappointing.

3. Specifics that if the allegations are true, are noticeably missing from the report, i.e., the name of the booster who McClover says he contacted to help him purchase a ’73 Chevrolet Impala.*

4. Also missing are interviews with the dozen or so other Auburn players HBO contacted who adamantly denied unethical conduct from boosters or coaches while they were at Auburn.

So what does this add up to?

HBO is not interested in telling the whole story and is not interested in finding the facts that might give their story credibility. They are more interested in headlines that garner attention and unfounded allegations that foster rumors that a segment of their audience wants to believe are true. Yellow journalism in its truest form.

*(A team mate of McClover says that a Pell Grant paid for the Impala. I guess it is reasonable to think that McClover believes Mr. Grant is a booster.)