The NCAA's decision to essentially gut Penn State football yesterday meant TV stations and newspapers throughout Pennsylvania felt they had to swing into action. Their mission? Find someone, anyone, with some tie to Penn State to get a reaction. Local papers and TV stations love taking this shitty approach to stories, since it always makes for an easy way to "get out there to see what the people are saying" by essentially compiling a handful of quotes from three or four individuals and passing off whatever they say as representative of an entire community. Much of what gets published or broadcast is usually just boilerplate—in this case, some predictable variation of disappointment, anger, or sadness. End quote. Cut. Thank you very much.
But WNEP, a TV station in Scranton/Wilkes Barre, hit the jackpot when it found Tom and Sally Price of Factoryville. WNEP downplayed their story's significance by sticking a bland "Penn State Sanctions, Grads React" headline atop the story on their website. But as you can see in the video above, the couple was just devastated by this latest bit of bad news about the football team at Tom's good old alma mater. So, Tom? Your thoughts?
[WNEP]