The social media takes on Paterno's death

The death of Joe Paterno was two events in one.

The first was the close of a life of heroic peaks and a tragic denouement.

The second was the gigantic Internet shadow of the event: the tweets, blogs, posts, and retweets, reposts, and comments, from thousands, perhaps millions, of people across the Web. All major news events now cast this immense shadow. And it can affect the very news itself, as it did in this case.

Sadness and snark. The Internet lets thousands of individuals post their reactions instantly - to anything, an index of immediate emotion.

NFL.com posted several Penn State graduates, now NFL players, tweeting their thoughts on Paterno. The Eagles' DeSean Jackson tweeted: "R.I.P Joe Paterno many years at high success.. Legacy leads on!! Sendin my prayers to all friends an fam of the Paterno's." New York Jets linebacker Aaron Maybin tweeted: "Thank You Joe 4 taking a chance on me & helping to make me into the man I am today. i will never forget the lessons i learned from u." Similar mourning and sadness reverberated throughout the social-media world.

But Paterno's final chapter, overshadowed by his troubling connection to the Jerry Sandusky scandal, also was reflected in the social-media reaction to his death. Beyond mourning and sadness, it continued the furious debate over sexual abuse of minors and the proper responsibilities of onlookers, colleagues, and superiors who suspect it is happening.

It was the same furious debate that has raged on radio, Twitter, cable TV, and the blogosphere since early November, when former Penn State defensive coordinator Sandusky was indicted by a grand jury on multiple charges of child molestation from 1994 to 2009. Paterno was soon fired by Penn State's board of trustees, who believed he had not done enough when he learned of the allegations from an assistant coach.

Lines were drawn immediately, between those outraged at the trustees' action and sensing a media attack on Paterno and those who felt that Paterno, if treated harshly, had indeed not done enough. And those lines were still much in evidence around the Web.

Among the comments Sunday on the CBS3 website, which includes the FM sports station WIP (94.1), was this one by mammyg: "So sad that 85 years of integrity were just dumped by the media.and the board.. He was vilified more at first than the accused person!. . . . People need to stop being holier than thou!" John Machamer wrote, "Another Media Death! Come on..ya wrecked this guys whole life's work without even an investigation..how do you know who he reported the abuse to didn't turn a blind eye..SHAME ON YOU ALL!"

On the other side, commenters such as dstellmnn wrote, "Joe did NOT do enough. All he did was to try and protect his lecherous friend, Sandusky, and the university. Why do you people car[e] more about Joe than about those innocent kids? His monumental arrogance kept him from doing the right thing - following up!!"

Commentators on sports-talk stations trod lightly between honoring Paterno and insisting that his actions were still in question. On the Sunday morning shows of both WIP and The Fanatic (97.5 FM), callers and hosts mulled the Jan. 14 story by Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post, Paterno's last interview, in which he said that "I never heard of, of, rape and a man." Uneasily the questions hovered: Was this evidence of being too out of touch? Or was this a media hanging?

Sandusky himself gave a public condolence, sparking an explosion of disgust throughout Twitter. Cheri Campbell tweeted, "Jerry Sandusky, no one wanted to hear from you today. But you couldn't resist, could you?" Dan Wetzel tweeted, "How ever many years Jerry Sandusky is getting in prison, they should add another for issuing a statement today on JoePa."

Once again, the two sides of social media: an instantaneous, welcoming forum for emotions and insights - and a snark festival.

Getting it wrong. The social-media reaction also revealed another, less-hyped aspect of the Web: sometimes getting things wrong in a big way, jumping the gun, igniting and viralizing bad information.

As of 8:45 p.m. Saturday night, official reports had Paterno in serious condition at Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, Pa. But at 8:45 p.m. a report of Paterno's death appeared on the Penn State student site Onward State: "Our sources can now confirm: Joseph Vincent Paterno has passed away tonight at the age of 85." (Representatives of Onward State later said those "sources" had been Penn State football players.)

CBSSports.com picked up the story without attribution, and the news flared throughout the Internet. The Huffington Post ran the news, as did Deadspin and myriad other sites.

But then Dan McGinn, Paterno family spokesman, told the New York Times it was false. Jay Paterno, Joe's son, said via Twitter: "I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight."

By Sunday morning, CBS had corrected its report and a regretful Devon Edwards, managing editor of Onward State, had resigned.

And then the family issued its official statement that Paterno had passed away that morning. At the center of it all, a prominent life ended, a life of achievement perhaps forever qualified.