OsoCoreyell said:
A few things of note:
1) I think the WSJ interview was a bad idea, but I certainly understand it. The pressure to say something was huge with ESPN doing hourly updates on the situation, the DMN running a "countdown until full disclosure" and the plaintiff's lawyers filing a new suit virtually every day (and the press taking everything said in the lawsuits claims as absolutely true). The PR response from BU and the regents was ill-conceived. They did not understand the forces at play at all and misjudged at almost every turn.
2) The DMN was the most dishonest party in this entire sad situation (with the possible exception of ESPN). Sharon Grigsby told the ed board over there that her good Baylor ties would get her access to the right information. But her first conversations with regents and administrators was SO high-handed and over-the top, it became clear that she was going to go for the "sensationalist" version without even attempting to look at the credibility of some of the accusers. As a result, she quickly found out that no one would talk to her. She was losing cred with the ed board. THEN, because of the problems with the DMN, a few Regents gave an exclusive interview to the WSJ. It was a journalistic slap in the face for Sharon and the DMN to get scooped like that. The DMN responded with a total scorched earth approach resulting in some of the most irresponsible reporting I've ever seen out of that publication. No nuance of any kind. Everyone associated with Baylor was a liar and a rape enabler. Every one that accused Baylor of anything (even scumbag plaintiffs lawyers with obvious $ interests in sensationalizing) was a saint and told only the truth. The national media began to repeat all of these stories in the now familiar way that the current lazy version of "journalism" does - "It is being reported that...[INSERT ANY WILD ACCUSATION BY ANOTHER NEWS ORGANIZATION]."
A few things to consider per your points:
1- Yes, the WSJ interview of 10/28/16 was a bad idea. It was amateur hour for our leadership and nobody on a national level really cared about what was going on in Waco despite nationwide coverage on ESPN and the upcoming 60 Minutes piece on 11/1/16. However, Bunting was the new PR firm hired (there's a link there to a current regent who was a client with his own recovering reputation from sexual harassment issues-also Google Bunting Occidental to see their method of PR operation for the SA problems at that school) because our in-house folks and a local firm weren't up to the task and they found a Baylor grad who works at the WSJ to author that interview for a response on a national scale due to the ESPN and upcoming 60 Minutes coverage.
2- The DMN was NOT the most dishonest party of the "entire sad situation"; maybe from your point of view for not showing the BOR in a positive light. But, yes, I agree there was some dishonest reporting, if you call it reporting, from that outlet. There's much blame to go around: Starr, RR, Briles, Ian, Shill, our BOR, ESPN sensationalism, etc. Yes, Grigsby showed that she didn't have the goods and got scooped, but Bunting wanted a national outlet to highlight only football program SA problems despite the DMN clamoring for action and knowing that the 60 Minutes piece would hit SA problems across the entire university. The WSJ interview was printed on 10/28/16 while the DMN interview with a different regent group wasn't printed until 11/3/16.