The Washington Post did not “hype” their report of 15 women alleging sexual harassment from an NFL franchise, but many journalists spent four days building excitement for the story, seemingly for personal gain. Chad Dukes opened his afternoon radio show on Washington DC’s 106.7 The Fan, ripping reporters for attempting to attach themselves to the story.
People who never previously offered inside info on the franchise, were reporting on the Post’s story days before its release. Reporting on speculation, those journalists prioritized being involved with the story over offering information.
Details from the Post’s report are disturbing and change must take place after three employees from Washington’s NFL team were accused of unlawful conduct, including Larry Michael, the club’s longtime radio voice, who abruptly announced his retirement on Wednesday, and Alex Santos, the team’s director of pro personnel. But while The Post created a complete investigative story on sexual harassment allegations against Dan Snyder’s football team, outside reporters wanted to make sure they tweeted about the bombshell piece long before it was released.
“Either report it or don’t!” Dukes yelled near the top of his radio show on The Fan.
“I mean, people got the spears, and the pitchforks and the torches out so quickly,” Dukes said, ripping reporters for being hellbent on being attached to the story.
“Well, this isn’t my story, but I tell you what, I knew about it way back here on Sunday night and I’m gonna retweet myself as soon as the story comes out and say, ‘See, I told you so!’
“F you. Either report it or don’t, ya jackass,” Dukes exclaimed.
For most of the week, media members speculated and built hysteria without finding any new information to report, maybe for fear of giving out misinformation. A number of reporters and news outlets were spurned for releasing false information in the immediacy of a January helicopter crash which ultimately took the life of Kobe Bryant and eight others.
There’s always a race to be first when reporting on a big story, often carelessly rushing “breaking news” to the public. This time, instead of releasing false information, reporters continuously insinuated they knew what The Post was about to break. Rather than unanimous outrage over the alleged sexual harassment report, the manufactured hype now has some people responding with disappointment over the story.
