Hello,
This is my first post, and hopefully it's interesting. I've been analyzing how Deadspin covered the whole Manti Te'o/Lennay Kekua story, and something has been bugging me for quite a while...
A big reason Deadspin's article blew up is because they implied, by way of anonymous sources, that Manti Te'o helped perpetrate the dead girlfriend hoax. However, Deadspin also spoke with a woman named Diane O'Meara--the girl whose photos were used to portray Lennay--and they said that Diane told them "everything she knew" about the guy who was really behind the hoax, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.
Diane spoke on the phone to Ronaiah a few days before Deadspin published their article. Ronaiah confessed that he was behind the hoax, and he likely told her--going by his previous behavior--that Manti was completely innocent. Diane also would've had access to circumstantial evidence which suggested Manti was being duped. Roniah had been hounding Diane with strange requests even into early January, and he had asked for:
A photo of Diane saying, "Good luck No. 5."
A video of Diane saying, "Good luck on the 7th."
Manti Te'o wore number 5 on his uniform, and the BCS title game was on January 7th, so obviously those requests were meant for his sake. I think that any objective reporter would have looked at those facts and realized that Manti and Ronaiah probably weren't in cahoots. Yet Deadspin never mentioned those requests, and they haven't mentioned Diane O'Meara a single time since breaking the story.
Simply put: Does anyone else find that suspicious? Could Deadspin have known a lot more than they were letting on?
Again, any feedback is welcome. I go into a lot more detail over on my blog, but my main points are all in this post.
This is my first post, and hopefully it's interesting. I've been analyzing how Deadspin covered the whole Manti Te'o/Lennay Kekua story, and something has been bugging me for quite a while...
A big reason Deadspin's article blew up is because they implied, by way of anonymous sources, that Manti Te'o helped perpetrate the dead girlfriend hoax. However, Deadspin also spoke with a woman named Diane O'Meara--the girl whose photos were used to portray Lennay--and they said that Diane told them "everything she knew" about the guy who was really behind the hoax, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.
Diane spoke on the phone to Ronaiah a few days before Deadspin published their article. Ronaiah confessed that he was behind the hoax, and he likely told her--going by his previous behavior--that Manti was completely innocent. Diane also would've had access to circumstantial evidence which suggested Manti was being duped. Roniah had been hounding Diane with strange requests even into early January, and he had asked for:
A photo of Diane saying, "Good luck No. 5."
A video of Diane saying, "Good luck on the 7th."
Manti Te'o wore number 5 on his uniform, and the BCS title game was on January 7th, so obviously those requests were meant for his sake. I think that any objective reporter would have looked at those facts and realized that Manti and Ronaiah probably weren't in cahoots. Yet Deadspin never mentioned those requests, and they haven't mentioned Diane O'Meara a single time since breaking the story.
Simply put: Does anyone else find that suspicious? Could Deadspin have known a lot more than they were letting on?
Again, any feedback is welcome. I go into a lot more detail over on my blog, but my main points are all in this post.
