Malpractice: The Journalistic Assassination Of Ryan Lochte

Townhall.com ^ | August 25, 2016 | Derek Hunter

[Fiddlstix]

Nearly everyone with a media credential from a major news outlet in the United States was in Rio. So you spend the month before the Olympics telling us how corrupt this police force is, but only one media outlet bothers to check a story spoon-fed them by the chief of that force? Now we know the swimmers were never, not once, questioned about the alleged vandalism. Weird, right?

But the narrative already had been chosen by the media – Lochte is an arrogant jerk, party boy – so why bother seeing if he was telling the truth before ruining his life? And ruin his life they did.

Lochte lost all his sponsors, all his income, because the media found a story that was too good to check.

Rather than do journalism, or even report the truth after having gotten the facts wrong, the media simply spins on.

Nailed It !

[DiogenesLamp]

I think you may have missed the point of this article. It was not “poor Ryan Lochte”; it was that the media is lazy at best, and a lying, scheming, devious, malicious, anything-for-a-story pack of coyotes.

While it had that component to it, I was thinking more along the lines of political correctness and "Social Justice Warrior" propaganda of:

"White privileged White boy casts scurrilous accusations against poor brown people of a different culture."

More of an "Emanuel Goldstein" "two minute hate" thing.

[originalbuckeye]

I reserved judgement on Lochte until the whole story was told. I was chastised by some friends for giving him a pass as he is an American. I KNEW there was more to the story than what we were being told.......but the Media has their ‘Lochteskin’, tanned and hanging on the wall already. I am surprised they didn’t damn him with being a Trump supporter (I do not know who he actually supports and I do not care, but the Media would have made it a blazing headline if they could prove he happens to be a Trump supporter)

[DiogenesLamp]

I’d much prefer he just goes on off and thinks about what he is and how he acts in future.

The implication being that he did something wrong.

What are you implying he did wrong? Should he not have reported being robbed by off duty police to the police department?

I'm still betting one of those four off-duty Rio police officers who robbed him of $400.00, has a relative high in the Rio Police Department. I believe the Rio Police department circled the wagons to protect this individual.

[Gaffer]

I’m done here talking about this prat. Too much money and time and discussion has already been spent on this elitist.

[xzins]

Lochte said he was wrong and that he made it up. There’s not a lot more to write about after that.

[marktwain]

“Career suicide by stupidity.”

If so, it is a “stupidity” of a very minor nature. Peeing alongside a building because the bathroom is locked, is a very minor stupidity.

[Rennes Templar]

I heard some black pundit on CNN the day after it happened go after Lochte. He was about to go apoplectic. You would think Lochte would have raped and killed another athlete: Disgrace to our country. Lifetime ban. Revoke passport.

The guy didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but it was a chance to jump on the evil white American theme.

[DiogenesLamp]

When this story broke I posted that facts were twisted,not proven and I was holdin judgement, then 87 posts told me I was a troll,a pos, disrupter,liar,and gay AND THAT WAS BY FREEPERS

I had exactly the same response. Even got accused of "RACISM" because I wouldn't immediately side with the Rio Police and Media by declaring the "White Boy" and "Ugly American."

Just goes to show that knee jerk judgementalism and a willingness to believe whatever crap the media pushes out is also present here at Free Republic.

[loveliberty2]

Are we to expect that Matt Lauer’s next lengthy in-depth interview and aggressive exposure of the innermost soul of an American who shades the truth, dissembles, and denies lying to the world will be the Democrat Hillary Clinton?

[DiogenesLamp]

but he’s the one who was so drunk he got himself in a bad situation in a foreign country.

Other than getting drunk, what was it that he did wrong?

Who can avoid running into a corrupt foreign police officer?

[DiogenesLamp]

The poor 32 year old child can’t be expected to act in a civil manner

You are absolutely right. How dare he have the gall to report that four corrupt Rio Police officers pointed a gun at him and robbed him of $400.00 .

The nerve of some people! He should have shown good manners and kept it to himself.

[DiogenesLamp]

Career suicide by stupidity.

By Rio Cop stupidity, (and corruption) by Media repeating lies stupidity, and by Advertiser stupidity.

Unfortunately for him, he cannot control other people's stupidity.

[HiTech RedNeck]

How about talking about Rio?

[DiogenesLamp]

Lochte lies. His career is ruined by the media.

Hillary lies. The media tries to make her president.

And the common denominator is Liberal control of the media.

Shouldn't we be working to eradicate that?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Rio might be a fair picture of what the USA would look like after 8 years of Hillary

[Gaffer]

Frankly, Rio is so last Sunday. It is over and done with and the mess is now theirs to deal with and no one but die-hard elite idolizers give a crap about it.

[DiogenesLamp]

Yes, the media IS out of control. But the temporary loss of freedom question should be imposed to Lochte who saved his own a$$ first, right?

I do not fault the man for getting out of that third world cesspool as quickly as possible. I think he had gotten ample evidence that he needed to get out of there after reporting a crime to the police and having them try to make him into the criminal.

He might have sent a clue to his teammates urging them to get out too, but that would be about the only thing he might have done wrong.

No reasonable American would have predicted the stark raving nuttery that the Brazilian police force engaged in to shift blame away from some of their darling corrupt cops.

That they would hold people for ransom was beyond what any reasonable person would have expected. Did you expect them to do that?

[DiogenesLamp]

Lochte’s behavior may have been “frat boyish” and I’m not defending that part; however, a “private security guard” holding a gun and taking money is armed robbery. No different IMHO is if I ran a stop sign (behavior is wrong) but a cop held a gun towards me and demanded money... then let me go on my way.

And do not forget it was $400.00! Well beyond any reasonable cost of the damages *THEY ALLEGED.* (damages which were subsequently demonstrated to be false.)

This was robbery, plain and simple.

[Gaffer]

Okay. I understand you thinking he is blameless in this and just an innocent American abroad. I’ve been all over this world in ‘hostile’ places and I know common sense is your best defense. If he didn’t, shame on him. It’s probably because he’s been treated as some kind of special elite - I don’t know. But I’m gonna go to sleep tonight and I won’t be thinking about him and his plight one bit.