Reporter Uses Davies' Misfortune as a Cheap Gain

I haven't written on this thing in forever. I almost didn't even remember it existed. Between Twitter & Facebook, I figured that anything I had to say could effectively be conveyed there. But with BYU basketball's dream season apparently crashing down in a day, I was thinking a lot about how/why Jay Drew decided that he needed to take it upon himself to publish exactly what it was that Sophomore forward Brandon Davies did to earn his suspension. I'm not talking about the story itself. Obviously that - as disappointing as it may be - is newsworthy. What I'm referring to is exactly what Davies did to earn himself the dismissal. To me, that's where the line was crossed.

First, it's important to understand that the Salt Lake Tribune goes out of its way to establish itself as the Liberal paper in the area. That's fine.

I didn't read it growing up or really until the latter part of my stay in Provo, but now that I'm away from BYU, the Trib & Deseret News are good ways to keep up with Cougar sports. It seems like every week the Trib runs a story that either paints the Church in a negative light or goes after some other hot-button political/social issue from a left-of-center point of view. Their message is clear: "We aren't the Deseret News. We aren't run by the Church & we won't let you forget it!"

Yet they're "most read" stories are ones that clearly appeal to an LDS audience (which is why any story on the Church or BYU is quickly moved to "most read" status). They know who their main readers are, yet intentionally provoke them by masquerading around pretending to cater to an entirely different audience.

Now onto the matter at hand.

Jay Drew has useful information, and by-and-large he is a good sports reporter, but he frequently seems to come close to crossing that line. He was hot off the presses about what Harvey Unga & O'Neill Chambers did when they had their respective issues. It's almost as if he's trying to make a name for himself and he'll do whatever it takes to make it happen.

I respect the journalistic side of things. Really, it's his duty as a journalist to investigate issues. In this case, that is to make sure Davies didn't do something against the law or something similar. But once his "source" sold out Davies, Drew should have kept the specifics to himself. Now Davies is trending WORDLWIDE & ESPN's first headline involved Davies/sex. This guy is a college athlete - an amateur. He doesn't deserve this. Already he has to live with the consequences - this just exacerbates the problem.

I am grateful to my alma mater for staying true to the principles and standards that make BYU the great place it is. It would be disappointing if it were handled in any other way. There's more to the matter than just this, but it suffices to say that Drew used Davies' unfortunate circumstance as his "cheap" way to get a little public notoriety.

Here's to hoping Jimmer & co. can circle the wagons and salvage what's left of an otherwise special and memorable season.