As ESPNs reporter-centered investigation brand of journalism that fully intends to be fact-based, OTL took a major hit in my eyes. Its a shame really. Most recently they did such a good job with the Ray Rice and Steelers "Cleaner" storylines. They clearly rushed information out there to re-establish credibility reporting (which OTL had) with the story. OTL is more than what Naqi ran with. The additional issue is that she doesn't have the credentials (see Walter Cronkite) to support the OTL brand. She got shuttled out there as a puppet of ESPN/TMZ. If ESPN felt so good about this, they would have given Bob Ley with a megaphone. Instead they made Naqi into a canary in the mineshaft.
The other problem with Naqi's report that the OTL (ESPN) story her editors forced her to run with lacked the completeness and thoroughness that this story requires. She tried to couch it as "just the facts" but she- and her editors damn well knew that this story has many layers and unanswered questions. For example..why didn't the NFL official just give the ball to the ref? Why did Kensil "personally"check the balls? What about the Colts assertions? Cold temperatures impacting the ball's PSI.
For a brand that prides itself on trustworthy, thorough investigative journalism, I expected more from OTL. Instead we got a 1/2 ass combo of Hank Phillipe-Ryan, Perez Hilton and Bob Lobel.
