Amazing story from Grantland that lands Bill Simmons in hot water

I think he genuinely feels bad. That's gotta be tough on the writer, and Bill still OKed it.
 
Bigmike23 said:
did he really have to say sorry tho? or was it just ESPN telling him to do so?
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ESPN probably made him.

What's bugging me is that some people are trying to blame the author for playing a role in the suicide. He was merely trying to research a story about a person, and he managed to dig up some damning information. That's what reporters do. And they shouldn't have to apologize for reporting the truth.

This person committed suicide because she was wildly depressed. Not because some reporter was digging around to find information on her background.
 
dmbrhs said:
ESPN probably made him.

What's bugging me is that some people are trying to blame the author for playing a role in the suicide. He was merely trying to research a story about a person, and he managed to dig up some damning information. That's what reporters do. And they shouldn't have to apologize for reporting the truth.

This person committed suicide because she was wildly depressed. Not because some reporter was digging around to find information on her background.
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Well you wouldn't say that even of the course of researching a story, a reporter might find things out about someone's personal life that do not need to be shared?

I would like to think there is a line that should not be crossed.
 
100027 said:
Well you wouldn't say that even of the course of researching a story, a reporter might find things out about someone's personal life that do not need to be shared?

I would like to think there is a line that should not be crossed.
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I would argue that someone claiming to be someone they're not has probably forfeited the right to let people decide what needs to be shared. I'm speaking specifically about her "credentials". And when investigating those "credentials", the reporter found out why it was so difficult to find information (because she was literally a different person at one point in her life). Simmons even mentioned in his letter that if they'd left that part out and it surfaced later, it would have been a disservice to the reader. There was more to tell on that angle, but she refused to cooperate once the reporter, who was doing his job, started to figure everything out (and started asking more probing questions).

The suicide is another issue entirely. She was depressed. Plain and simple. People just like to place blame on other factors that, in actuality, don't have much influence (if any) on the situation.
 
Wow, pretty crazy story all around with a very unfortunate ending.

Certainly, putting blame towards the writer/Grantland for the death of Dr. V and being called a murderer isnt right..that is an issue too complex to paint in that nature and unfair

But I definitely agree in they should have handled some of that information more cautiously and with a better perspective on information that was pretty sensitive, even if surrounded by all other false credentials.
 
Hannan is a lame. I hope the suicide keeps him up at night but I doubt it. He got the attention he wanted :smh:

RIP to the Doc.
 
erupt107th said:
Hannan is a lame. I hope the suicide keeps him up at night but I doubt it. He got the attention he wanted :smh:

RIP to the Doc.
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She committed suicide because she was a wildly depressed individual. Not because of Caleb Hannen.
 
I don't think you can blame him for her suicide. Whether or not outing that part of her past was right is a different question. I can see how it could become part of the larger story of her deception, however.
 
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100027 said:
I don't think you can blame him for her suicide. Whether or not outing that part of her past was right is a different question. I can see how it could become part of the larger story of her deception, however.
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I think the part where it becomes part of a larger deception is what most folks, at least the articles I've read had an issue with...and thats where it comes off as insensitive to people who fit the same mold as Dr V. He doesnt really separate between the lies about her credentials and her personal life changing information

Him also feeling the need to be the one to tell the investor that information himself seemed to be out of his lane as a journalist

I def. dont think what he did was intentional, just seemed like someone who let himself get lost in a crazy story without taking a step back to realize the kind of delicate info at his hands
 
Another reason why I don't care about Bill Simmons or Grantland. Classy stuff continuing this story for eight months like Dr. V was some super villain. They should've had the respect to not publish the piece period. Caleb shouldn't have spent 8 months of his life breaking into Dr. V's life.
 
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dmbrhs said:
 
Bigmike23 said:
did he really have to say sorry tho? or was it just ESPN telling him to do so?
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ESPN probably made him.

What's bugging me is that some people are trying to blame the author for playing a role in the suicide. He was merely trying to research a story about a person, and he managed to dig up some damning information. That's what reporters do. And they shouldn't have to apologize for reporting the truth.

This person committed suicide because she was wildly depressed. Not because some reporter was digging around to find information on her background.
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i knew someone was going to make this argument in here. i just knew it

the article was about the golf club. as soon as the writer found out other things, the story driving the piece was forgotten and it just became about the golf club inventor's private life - a life which she had every right to keep to herself, especially after going back and forth with the write and asking him to not write about it. the author, in his quest for notoriety, became obsessed with this detail as if it was integral to the story and abused this privilege to basically get ahead at the expense of the person who created the golf club

let me put it in simple terms - the "damning information" as you put it had absolutely nothing to do with the originally intended article. it devolved into a nothing more than a tabloid piece that meant to out someone who didn't want to be outed in that manner. it wasn't the job of the writer to do that. the only one who gained anything from it was the writer, not the reader and most certainly not the creator of the putter

you can say it wasn't his fault that this person killed herself, but do you think she would've killed herself had that information not been handled in such a defiantly public way by this "writer?"
 
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@DON RAMON  ... While I see what you're saying about the story deviating from the original intent... Dr. V was selling and promoting a product using fake credentials.  And not ones akin to just adding some small part of a previous or current position and embellishing on a resume to look a little better, but she was selling the club under the guise of an accomplished astrophysicist who had helped develop the B1 Stealth Bomber and Bluetooth technology. 

Clearly outing her to others was not a good decision, no question there... However it seemed to be a consequence of revealing the other things about her that proved her claims of her education and career to be fabricated.

In making those claims she was defrauding people who believed in her product including Kinney who gave her $60,000 to develop the club and continue the business.

Very touchy subject and definitely should have been handled differently.
 
Straight up, Simmons and the gang must've been foaming out the mouth when they discovered her past. I really don't care about Simmons apology or rationalization. This showed me the questionable kind of people they have running the show on Grantland. I'm glad B/R is the one that gave me my break, not Grantland.

Like Ramon said, once they discovered her truth, it stopped being about the putter and the writer embarked on this disrespectful quest to achieve notoriety as if she was some sort of villainous creature. The piece should've been killed after her personal life was discovered (and most certainly shouldn't have been ran after her suicide). As a writer, stuff like this bothers me. When other writers forget about the art of their craft and submerge themselves in tabloid.
 
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see, her being transgender still had nothing to do with her using fake credentials (ie "Dr"). being transgender has nothing to do with being fraudulent or trying to deceive anyone. it had no effect on her business dealings. why bring it up in the story? to make it more "scandalous." it added nothing to the story.

she committed suicide after she found out they were going ahead with the publication of the article.

htey still had the opportunity to pull the article knowing she killed herself, but they still published it with all those details.

doesn't that strike anyone as unethical if not inhumane?
 
Agreed Ramon. It's disgusting that page views was the fuel behind this fire. Regardless of what they say, I'm not visiting that site or ever working for them. Classless organization.
 
People are really blaming the writer for having a role in Dr.V's suicide?
Maybe if Dr.V was actually not a fraud and recognized her own faults, it would not have happened :smh:
 
My wife mentioned that Dr. V had already attempted suicide, prior to the story even being written.

Her point was basically that this person was already on that path, and sadly when people get that far into the process of letting go like that, even if they survive, chances are they will try again.

I'm not saying that clears anyone or that it wasn't insensitive of Grantland to run the article, but it's worth pointing out.
 
CP1708 said:
My wife mentioned that Dr. V had already attempted suicide, prior to the story even being written.

Her point was basically that this person was already on that path, and sadly when people get that far into the process of letting go like that, even if they survive, chances are they will try again.

I'm not saying that clears anyone or that it wasn't insensitive of Grantland to run the article, but it's worth pointing out.
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Yeah, it's unfair to blame Caleb for her suicide. He just shouldn't have put her on blast and should've had the wherewithal to respect her wishes of privacy. She's a fraud, that's fine, point out how you can't find her registered at MIT, etc. but don't divulge to the world that she's transgender.
 
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