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.”
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- i love it. i always thought mcqueary was up to something.— britchick292002
- 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
- christian marrone? of vince fumo fame? classic...man.— Shemp Howard
- 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
- Also: Shemp Howard was the greatest Stooge.— Jeffritoe
- 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 - How did you form your "opinion"? Probably by watching TMZ last November? — turdferguson333
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
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.
