Image courtesy of Ann Arbor Police Department
By Douglas Smith
February 12, 2014
Dave Birkett, former AA.com sports reporter tweeted that he and Mike Rothstein tried to write the story about Brendan Gibbons arrest for rape his freshman year but his editors killed the story.
Dave Birkett@davebirkett· Jan 30, 2014
· Also, nice to see Michigan acting in a timely matter in the Brendan Gibbons case. I remember trying to report that when I covered them in 09
· The place I worked at the time. Mr @mikerothstein & I were ready to publish
RT @JasonShubnell: What held you back on the reporting front?
Dave Birkett@davebirkett·Jan 30
· Publications & reporters don't always agree. I thought we had it locked, my old bosses didn't
At the time of his arrest the Ann Arbor police refused to confirm that it was Brendan Gibbons that they had arrested. The University spokesperson at the time said that the football player was only taken in for questioning but that was untrue, as the police reports reflected. That led to a short story about an anonymous football player being arrested and no follow up to that story [1]. Despite this appearing in the newspaper, the athletic director at the time, Bill Martin, has recently claimed that he did know about the accusations against Gibbons [2], which seems highly unlikely. I have also tried repeatedly to make comments on AA.com stories about the Gibbons case but the editors always removed even the most general of remarks, claiming that it was unfair to mention his arrest because he was not charged. The newspaper also did not make mention of the public comments that I made at the Board of Regent’s meetings in November 2011 or February 2012.
Would anything have been handled differently if the AA.com editors had not killed the story? Would that have put pressure on the UM administration to investigate the incident under the student disciplinary process? Would the University have been forced to offer the victim protection from the many threats she was receiving? Would they have been forced to address Taylor Lewan’s threats? We will never know because the AA.com editors chose to keep the public in the dark.
[1] http://www.annarbor.com/news/university-of-michigan-student-arrested-after-reported-sexual-assault/
[2] http://www.michigandaily.com/blog/wire/former-ad-martin-gibbons-incident-never-came
February 12, 2014
Dave Birkett, former AA.com sports reporter tweeted that he and Mike Rothstein tried to write the story about Brendan Gibbons arrest for rape his freshman year but his editors killed the story.
Dave Birkett@davebirkett· Jan 30, 2014
· Also, nice to see Michigan acting in a timely matter in the Brendan Gibbons case. I remember trying to report that when I covered them in 09
· The place I worked at the time. Mr @mikerothstein & I were ready to publish
RT @JasonShubnell: What held you back on the reporting front?
Dave Birkett@davebirkett·Jan 30
· Publications & reporters don't always agree. I thought we had it locked, my old bosses didn't
At the time of his arrest the Ann Arbor police refused to confirm that it was Brendan Gibbons that they had arrested. The University spokesperson at the time said that the football player was only taken in for questioning but that was untrue, as the police reports reflected. That led to a short story about an anonymous football player being arrested and no follow up to that story [1]. Despite this appearing in the newspaper, the athletic director at the time, Bill Martin, has recently claimed that he did know about the accusations against Gibbons [2], which seems highly unlikely. I have also tried repeatedly to make comments on AA.com stories about the Gibbons case but the editors always removed even the most general of remarks, claiming that it was unfair to mention his arrest because he was not charged. The newspaper also did not make mention of the public comments that I made at the Board of Regent’s meetings in November 2011 or February 2012.
Would anything have been handled differently if the AA.com editors had not killed the story? Would that have put pressure on the UM administration to investigate the incident under the student disciplinary process? Would the University have been forced to offer the victim protection from the many threats she was receiving? Would they have been forced to address Taylor Lewan’s threats? We will never know because the AA.com editors chose to keep the public in the dark.
[1] http://www.annarbor.com/news/university-of-michigan-student-arrested-after-reported-sexual-assault/
[2] http://www.michigandaily.com/blog/wire/former-ad-martin-gibbons-incident-never-came
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