Early in the morn, yesterday, just after 6:30am, the world tragically lost a 24 yr old w an infectious smile – who’d wowed ppl on the field many times in his career.
Dwayne Haskins – the standout QB for the Ohio State Buckeyes, draft pick of the Washington Commanders, & current Pitt Steeler was struck by a dump truck, crossing a highway in Florida, early in the morn.
That SHOULD’ve been how the world heard abt this awful loss. Instead NFL insider, Adam Schefter, announced it this way on his Twitter:
“Dwayne Haskins, a standout at Ohio
State before struggling to catch on
with Washington & Pittsburgh in the
NFL, died this morning when he got
hit by a car in South Florida.”
Schefter – from my interactions w him…from all who know him better than I, is not a bad guy. In fact, the reason he gets so many leads, is he’s known as a standup guy w great relationships. BUT, that his first instinct was to report this way (not his intentions but his INSTINCT) is what’s troubling.
Our media is conditioned not just to share the news- but to be FIRST, give OPINION, & do it in a CONTROVERSIAL way. An announcement of a death should NEVER have included an opinion abt someone’s ‘struggling’ career.
During an appearance on NFL radio, former Cowboys exec Gil Brandt shared his thoughts on this tragic loss & made some really insensitive comments:
“He was a guy that was living to be dead, so to speak. They told him, don’t under any circumstance leave school early. ‘You just don’t have the work habits, you don’t have this, you don’t have that.’ What did he do? He left early. But maybe if he stayed in school a year he wouldn’t do silly things.”
So a former NFL scout, bc he didn’t like that Haskins left school early, opined w/in hours of his death, that ‘this was coming to him’?
We know NOTHING abt why Haskins was on that road so early. NOTHING abt his MH state & why he’d even be on that road, crossing. And maybe MH has nothing to do w this. BUT, the way our reporters treat public figures is often sloppy, unfair, & harmful.
I’m happy the public’s holding these 2 accountable. WE thru social media, can bring abt changing these coverages.