Explaining the Eteuati situation

Since last Friday's issue of The Signpost hit the newsstands, there has been discussion aplenty regarding the lead story of the day, that star Weber State University football player Bryant Eteuati had been arrested. The arrest on Wednesday put him in jeopardy of not being able to play in Saturday's big game. After learning of the arrest, the team decided to suspend him indefinitely, which meant that even if he was released from the Weber County Jail, he wasn't going to play. Interesting story, right? It seems like information people would want to know about. Apparently not. Some heated words have been expressed since the story ran. Some words from members of the WSU team, some from WSU football fans and some from other interested observers, all with various opinions on what happened. Some of those words were directed to Eteuati, some were directed to The Signpost and some were directed specifically to the editor-in-chief of the paper and primary writer of the story, Jessica Schreifels. A lot of this discussion can be seen in the comments on the original story at wsusignpost.com. There have now been a total of 32 comments posted. There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding in some of the comments. As a newspaper, we're here to present factual information that can clearly help people know what is happening and clear up misunderstanding. We think it's important to address these comments, and get rid of any misunderstandings here. The Signpost did not get Bryant Eteuati suspended. Bryant Eteuati got Bryant Eteuati suspended. There is a common idea in the comments that if The Signpost would have just sat on this story, that the whole thing would have just gone away. Nothing would have happened and Eteuati would have played Saturday. If that indeed is the case, then it looks like there are some major hypocritical ideas here. If the athletic department really would have found out about this situation and the paper did not, and the athletic department chose not to suspend Eteuati, would that have been all right? We're not implying that the athletic department would actually do that, we're just observing that that seems to be what a lot of people wish would have happened. As sad as this truly is, Eteuati did this to himself. The Signpost in no way, shape or form tried to smear him or the football team because of some personal vendetta. We reported the facts. It would have been unethical of us if we didn't. WSU Athletic Director Jerry Graybeal denied the fact the story in The Signpost had anything to do with Eteuati being suspended. "The policy dealing with suspensions and/or discipline within the department is department policy," Graybeal said. "It has nothing to do with external impressions that are left by the media." Attacking Jessica Schreifels is unbelievably unfair. This was textbook journalism. Schreifels, along with a whole team of editors and writers, stayed well past their deadline last Thursday night calling the Weber County Jail, the Ogden City Police Department and the WSU Athletics Department over and over again to ensure that all of the facts were gathered and no hearsay was published. Not one word of the story was Schreifels', or anyone else's, opinion. These were facts from police reports. The only decision that was Schreifels' was where to run the story. Given the magnitude of the story - as evidenced by its response - the top of the front page seemed to be the logical decision. It's easy to hide behind anonymity. Going along with the last point, because of the journalistic integrity shown in the story, Schreifels was not afraid to put her name on the story. She still isn't ashamed whatsoever about it, because she knows none of it is her opinion or half-truths. On the other hand, many of the online commenters who so freely gave their opinions on the story, using almost purely opinion, and very little facts, attached their name to their comment. Names such as True Wildcat Fan, Weber4Lyfe and You Suck were given. That lack of ownership shows an interesting dichotomy. This doesn't have to still be a story. Observing how Eteuati is handling this situation is very interesting. After being suspended from the team, Eteuati's mom drove him down to Flagstaff, Ariz. for Saturday's game so that he could simply be there with the team and somehow help them win. He was upbeat, jumping around on the sideline, cheering his teammates on and even handing out water bottles. It would have been very easy for him to feel sorry for himself and try and hide from all of this. But he's apologized to his team, accepted what's happened and is ready to face the consequences and move on. Maybe some Wildcat players and fans should do the same. With the team's huge win in Saturday's game, the Wildcats are poised to make a major postseason run. It would most likely be in the players' and fans' best interest to move on and put this in the past. Meanwhile, we'll enjoy the extra stuff to write about. Maybe there are things more important than football in the world. One online comment spoke about how big the run the WSU Football Team is on right now and said that this story was responsible for "trying to ruin lives." Lives? Plural? It would appear that this individual was much more concerned with how Eteuati's actions affected the team and the fans than what this story really meant for Bryant Eteuati the individual. We at The Signpost truly hope Eteuati can figure things out and turn things around. We regret that he has to go through some of the things he has to go through right now - it would be tough - but we will not apologize for running this story. This list of responses to these online comments could go on and on, but we'll leave the rest of the dissection up to you, the reader. We feel like - though we were not at all obligated to do so - we've explained our side of the story pretty well, but as usual, we'll let the reader decide for him/herself.