What was it like reporting from State College, Pa., as the Penn State scandal unfolded? Says senior writer Jon Wertheim (@jon_wertheim), who co-wrote this week’s cover story with senior writer David Epstein (@SIDavidEpstein), “Literally every hour on the hour, there was a new rumor or story to chase. Talking to other journalists there, we all agreed that none of us had been part of a story like that before.”
Wertheim discussed the day-to-day work and interviews that went into his and Epstein’s story in a podcast interview with Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch). Selections from the interview run below. To listen to the interview in its entirety, click here.
Deitsch: How forthcoming were people talking to you?
Wertheim: A lot of the people within Penn State really wanted to talk because they were very resentful and really wanted their story out there. I think people were tired of seeing all the satellite trucks and realizing through Twitter and watching TV how big a deal this was. But this story was so heinous and so disturbing that people realized this wasn’t just the media trolling.
Deitsch: How do you split up the work with David Epstein?
Wertheim: While driving there together, we fired up Google maps and made as many calls from the road as we could. On the ground we stayed in constant touch with each other (“You take this person and I’ll take that person”). We were able to make contacts in Mill Hall, Pa., where Victim 1 in the grand jury report was from. No one else was really able to do that.
Deitsch: Why did you see Mill Hall as the point where readers should come into the piece?
Wertheim: What we came to the conclusion to was that if Jerry Sandusky had not been so brazen to move off campus—if he had confined his alleged activities to the area around Penn State—there is nothing to suggest that he would have been caught. What kick-started this investigation was going to this small town where he was a volunteer football coach and allegedly committed some acts there. It became very clear to us that the people in Mill Hall did not have the same response to this as the people at Penn State. They were not intimidated in any way and weren’t covering up a big-time athletic program. They were the ones that really got this rolling.
Deitsch: You pose a series of questions that the reader should keep in mind as they read this story. One concerns Paterno’s supposed unawareness, until 2002, of Sandusky’s alleged misdeeds.
Wertheim: I did a profile of a Big Ten basketball coach a few years ago. Midway through the interview, he asks me to hold on a second and pulled out his phone. He said, “It’s one of my players’ girlfriend’s birthdays today. Let me send her a quick text.” These coaches are micromanagers to the extreme; by definition they know everything. The notion that Joe Paterno—who one person described to us as “the Penn State traffic cop”—never found out about Sandusky until 2002 lacks credulity in the minds of a lot of individuals.
Deitsch: How long will this continue to be a national story?
Wertheim: I think it’s going to go well beyond the length of Sandusky’s trial. There’s going to be civil litigation where multiple people will be deposed as well as investigations both federal and internal. Think about all the factors in play here: college, an inherently interesting story to people; these unfathomable allegations; a big-time coach and big-time college football program; and talk of a cover up. I think both the specifics of this and the broader aspects of it—the destructive power of silence, an institution saving itself at the peril of individuals—will make this a big story for, literally, years.
FULL STORY ON SI.COM – Special Report: Scandal. Shame. A search for answers at Penn State.
FACEBOOK PHOTO ALBUM – On the Ground at Penn State (courtesy of Jon Wertheim)
