Film criticizes media for handling of Paterno in Sandusky case
"Framing Paterno," a video now on YouTube, criticizes the media for saying that Joe Paterno knew more than he let on in the child sexual abuse case against former assistant Jerry Sandusky.
Film criticizes media for handling of Paterno in Sandusky case
Joe Juliano
A 32-minute video released this week on YouTube takes up the case for Joe Paterno, the late Penn State football coach who was fired four days after a grand jury presentment revealed he had been told of sexual abuse of a young boy at the hands of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
The film, entitled “Framing Paterno,” is the creation of John Ziegler, a conservative filmmaker who specializes in media criticism. One of his prior productions took the media to task for its treatment of 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Ziegler, a graduate of Holy Ghost Prep in Bucks County, talks to the most vocal critics of media coverage of Joe Paterno and what he knew after the arrest of Sandusky on Nov. 5, 2011. Those included former Nittany Lion Franco Harris and trustee Anthony Lubrano. The filmmaker also spoke with Joseph Amendola, Sandusky’s attorney.
The movie presents evidence that Ziegler said exonerates Paterno, who was fired on Nov. 9. He said it claims Paterno wasn’t told in detail by then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary in 2001 about what McQueary saw when he discovered Sandusky in the shower with a young boy at the Lasch Football Building.
The purpose of the film, according to Ziegler, is to refute “a largely false narrative to fit (the media’s) own agenda.”
The film points out that the only three counts of which Sandusky was acquitted at his trial last June were based on details of what McQueary testified he saw that night. It also interviews a former teammate in the 1990s who said McQueary was not “trustworthy.”
The film also focuses on the Freeh Report, with all interview subjects criticizing the report as not being supported by facts. It claims that chairman Louis Freeh deliberately held a press conference summarizing the report’s findings before people had a chance to read it, and that the media automatically accepted the summary without further examination.
Former prosecutor and Penn State football player Christian Marrone said he was “startled by the lack of any kind of sufficient evidence to back up the hellacious claims, in particular as it related to coach Paterno” in the Freeh report. The report said Paterno knew of a 1998 police investigation of a complaint against Sandusky for his behavior with a child, but the film emphasized that no charges had resulted from that probe.
To refute statements in the Freeh report that Paterno did not report Sandusky for fear of unfavorable publicity, the movie interviewed Penn State quarterback Rashard Casey, who was arrested during his career on charges of assaulting a police officer. Casey said the fact that Paterno kept him on the team after his arrest meant he did not worry about bad publicity.
At one point in the film, Ziegler goes after ESPN reporter Mark Schwartz on the sideline following the network’s telecast of the Penn State season opener. Ziegler said Schwartz, who was ESPN’s primary reporter on the allegations of child abuse against former Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine, covered up the release of that story but jumped all over Paterno and Penn State after Sandusky’s arrest.
Harris repeats a familiar complaint that Paterno never received “due process” during the investigation.
Marrone said the university would not be able to move forward “until we get the truth. We’re not going to let the board of trustees or this president (Rodney Erickson) act like we’re bad people.”
Ziegler said that finding the truth would be difficult, like “going uphill into the wind on ice with lead bricks on our feet.”
Of course JoePa was framed. The media (ESPN) hysteria moved so fast there was no time for due process. The haters and cowards jumped on the media (ESPN) bandwagon. Penn State people are starting to punch back and it won't end anytime soon. We all know JoePa was a great man, a living legend and the winningest coach in NCAA history with 409 wins. He was not some mass conspirator that protected the monster Sandusky all the haters want you to believe.— delcodanno
I LOVE...just LOVE people who say Jerry abused boys 20' from Joe's office. the 2002 (oh wait, 2001, that's right, mcQ couldn't even remember the YEAR!) incident was in the evening when no one was there. you all make it like Joe was walking to his office and passed Jerry in the hall as he was molesting someone. Also, please look at the multiple other places in which Jerry abused his victims and you'll realize how many times children were abused OFF campus and how few of those people are being held responsible (yet..I smell the FBI lurking).I will say, I still don't know the whole truth, and in the end, who knows what will happen with Curley, Shultz and Spanier and that I can look at this from both sides and see where some will say- "Man, this thing reeks of PSU guilt" but I also look at the other side and see where there are a huge amount of holes and it doesn't exatly add up that there was this elaborate cover up. Until we know for sure (which we may never) what McQ said and to whom he said it, then I will not attack people who the media has chosen to use as a convenient money maker for their from page. I like that John Z has given people something to think about. Even if you think PSU, Paterno, Curley, etc are all guilty as sin he still makes the excellent point that the media has gone to far in this country and has been allowed to for far too long. This has got to stop and they need to be more responsible in their reporting. Additionally, police in this case need to realize that they're part of law enforcement, not the judicial system. Their job (cough..Noonan) is NOT to decide whether or not Paterno had a "moral obligation to do more". That was completely unprofessional, it gave the media the storm they wanted he had no right to make that statement.— psudel- The whole thing wreaks. McQueary goes to Paterno to tell him of Sandusky's behavior. McQueary is only a graduate assistant and Paterno and Penn State owe him nothing. If they believe him, Sandusky is an abuser and Paterno should do everything he can to protect these kids. If they don't believe him, why would they give a job to somebody who falsely accuses someone of inappropriate behavior with young boys?— barber07
- I always wondered why we never heard anything about the groups who were (and still are!) responsible for those children. When I heard that the second mile place gave corbett over $600K in campaign fund then he approved a 3 million dollar grant to them....Then the victims had to go to court to stop them from moving the money ... doesn't make any sense. It's a shame that they leave kids still at risk by blowing smoke to penn state. In any other company, school, institution they always first defend themselves - then let the facts/spin fall out before reacting. Something is definetly fishy here - i hope the real truth eventually comes out. It's whats needed to make sure more kids stay safe.... Curious why second mile, child services, foster programs, etc. are silent in this - yet they were more responsible!— nal409
- If Zeigler were an actual conservative instead of a knee-jerk follower of the fuhrerprinzip, he would realize that the man in charge gets the blame as well as the credit: both are his personal responsibility and ignorance is no excuse. In fact ignorance is its own indictment.
The captain goes down with his ship.
Willful blindness does not exculpate Joe "Pa". Just ask Kimmel and Short.— Spirit of 76 - Your a moron and you cant even state facts in your post.Are you a reporter?— eagle fan for life
- The media framed Paterno? Actually, the emails implicated Paterno. Since Spanier referred to Paterno for advice on how to handle the allegations, and references were made in the emails to updating Paterno, it is reasonable to conclude Paterno would have also been indicted by the grand jury.— StevenG
- The media did overkill on Nixon?
The media did overkill on Clinton?
The media did overkill on Watergate?
The media did overkill on Paterno? Come on, ... for real?
The press is just doing what they are supposed to do. Thank God for the Free Press. "Fourth Estate" most commonly refers to the proudly independent news media; especially print journalism or "The Press".— babmainst - Young boys were sexually abused. Sandusky received "Due Process", was convected & is in jail for life. Sandusky was Paterno's coach for 30 year, Sandusky was Paterno's business associate, Sandusky violated children 20 feet from Paterno's office, violated children in Paterno's building, violated children during Paterno's watch, & violated children in a facility & program controlled by Paterno. Paterno was 84 in consistent poor health, Joe Paterno's football players were all afraid that they would be the next player to trample their feeble elderly coach, Paterno coached for years from the press box, and Joe Paterno stated that he wished that he had done more. You need the DA or Freeh to spell things out for you? Extreme denial is hard to watch. We all loved JoPa but let's try to get real.— babmainst
Oh, this vid is going to make for some fun discussion until January, when the trials start. Everyone is going to be mouthing off about how they "know the real truth" until there is some under-oath testimony. Now, where's my popcorn?— verve- Anne Arkey: Joe Paterno never liked Sandusky due to his work ethic and lack of focus. He attributed the defensive success of the team to people other than Sandusky (i.e. in spite of him), and had wanted to push him out for years. He was irritated that Sandusky was spending more and more time with the Second Mile and less on coaching. That is the main reason he brought up the new retirement benefits package PSU was starting to offer and encouraged him to talk to the Athletic Director about signing up for it. (This is all according to the Paterno book published this year by Joe Posnanski.) re: McQueary, he testified that he softened the details when he spoke to Paterno about the shower incident out of respect for him.— ejbphila
- Fact, he protected a child molester. It was proven. He was a horrible human being and the world is better off.— Sidewinder7
- And you know this be fact how? Because you read it on the internet and they cant lie on the internet. — eagle fan for life
- Drumgoole: You have missed a fact there. Joe Paterno, in sworn testimony, and corroborated by McQueary's testimony, received a report of a sexual incident involving a child. And he did not contact the police. He convicted himself out of his own mouth. The "Educator, Coach Humanitarian" turned his back on a child. Chew on that fact to a while— xenontab
- All of these smug Paterno bashers refuse to acknowledge several FACTS. First Louis Freeh did not interview people who were sworn to give truthful testimony. Second, he did not interview the accused and give them the right to dispute charges. Because of this, nobody knows if those interviewed were truthful, untruthful or confused. This is not surprising coming from Freeh as he was a failed FBI director. The Board of trustees did not care about who was innocent or guilty. They just wanted the media frenzy to die down and Erickson didn't have the guts to have legal counsel to challenge the NCAA. Third, Paterno was not indicted by the investigating grand jury as was the other defendents. Actually, it is relatively easy for a determined prosecutor to get a grand jury indictment. Only the prosecutor presents evidence (that is sworn) while the defense attorney does not have the right to cross examine a witness. That is why the upcoming trials will be so important as Spanier, Schultz, and Curley will be represented by counsel and witnesses will be cross-examined. Hopefully the truth will come out then. The problem with Paterno's critics is that they want him to have been guilty and the media wanted a big story.— Drumgoole
- You have to be kidding?! You jocks just won't quit. I wish someone would explain why Paterno told Sandusky that he would never be head coach at PSU and why he encouraged him to retire at 50 years of age to do charity work? Sandusky is not talking and Joe can't.
In my opinion, JoePa suspected Sandusky of involvement with those young boys although he really did not want to believe it. I am not buying that McQueary did not give JoePa the full story. Joe's old dog and still had a memory of the tricks even without the bone(r).— Anne Arkey - Maybe you should actually look for information before spouting ignorance. Even the Freeh report concluded that Sandusky's retirement had nothing to do with the 1998 incident.
Joe didn't encourage Sandusky to retire and do charity work. Joe told Sandusky he either needed to commit to football entirely or retire to work on his charity since he felt Sandusky spent too much time on his charity and not enough time devoted to the football team.— porscheblack - Maybe you should actually look for information before spouting ignorance. Even the Freeh report concluded that Sandusky's retirement had nothing to do with the 1998 incident.Joe didn't encourage Sandusky to retire and do charity work. Joe told Sandusky he either needed to commit to football entirely or retire to work on his charity since he felt Sandusky spent too much time on his charity and not enough time devoted to the football team. (HTML deleted) — porscheblack
- How did you form your "opinion"? Probably by watching TMZ last November? — turdferguson333
- Also: Shemp Howard was the greatest Stooge.— Jeffritoe
- I puked after I read Sarah Palin's name mentioned...couldn't read anymore. Sorry JO, I was a fan of yours - still am, kinda.— Jeffritoe
- I feel like puking every time I hear the name Obama. — UncleJoe
- christian marrone? of vince fumo fame? classic...man.— Shemp Howard
- Of course I am sure that he finds it completely credible that Paterno was so innocent and naive after coaching Division I college football since the 1960's that he had to ask what the word "sodomy" meant. Paterno had the reputation of knowing everything that happened with the program. To then say he didn't know defies all logic.— catfish86
- i love it. i always thought mcqueary was up to something.— britchick292002
- I don't know of all the other issues, but I could not agree more with the representation here of the Freeh report being biased. When I heard him state in the press conference that Paterno had never asked Sandusky in the early 2000s about allegations of sexual abuse while also saying he had not spoken to Paterno or Sandusky, I questioned immediately how he could possibly know Paterno had never asked and how anyone could believe anything in the report, if that was an example of its foundation.— calm weather
This season is Joe's fourth season on the paper's Penn State beat. He previously covered the Nittany Lions for United Press International from 1976 to 1984.
Emily Kaplan is the Inquirer’s fall intern covering the Nittany Lions. She is a senior at Penn State and has covered a variety of sports for the university’s student-run paper, The Daily Collegian. Over the last two years, she has reported for The Associated Press from State College.
A Montclair, N.J. native, she has also interned at MLB Network, NHL.com and covered the 2012 Olympics in London. Follow her on Twitter here @EKaplan24.
