Malpractice: The Journalistic Assassination of Ryan Lochte
25th August 2016
USA Today’s sports editor, David Meeks, and reporter Taylor Barnes actually went to the gas station, looked for damage, talked to witnesses and reviewed surveillance videos. What they discovered by simply asking questions, something journalists used to do, was what Lochte and the others told officials actually happened.
They found no damage to the bathroom – the mirror and soap dispensers were still intact or had been replaced not by new equipment but filthy, old equipment complete with crusty old soap. The door was old and undamaged, not kicked in.
Through actual journalism, the USA Today team saw all the surveillance videos, and even though the bathroom door was in frame, there is no footage of the swimmers entering, exiting or kicking it. Unable to gain entry to the bathroom, they’d relieved themselves behind the building, then went back to their cab. That’s when it gets interesting.