A day after ESPN raised questions regarding Fath’ Carter’s authenticity as a primary source in Sports Illustrated’s Oklahoma State report, Deadspin reported that SI has not contacted OSU’s registrar’s office to investigate ESPN’s claims.
Sports Illustrated never contacted school for records, Oklahoma State registrar says
There is evidence of spotty fact-checking in the academic portion of SI’s report on Oklahoma State.
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ESPN’s story has been up for over a day, but when I asked an Oklahoma State spokeswoman if she had heard from SI since, she emailed, “I can confirm Sports Illustrated never contacted the university (OSU) about any academic records in regards to the recent stories.”
Update: SI’s Richard Deitsch, however, claims the magazine did check. Deadspin has updated its story to note SI says it’s in touch with OSU.
Carter played at Oklahoma State from 2000 to 2003. He told Sports Illustrated that a teacher who gave him and teammate Tatum Bell A’s when they still had athletic eligibility remaining gave them F’s in the spring of 2004 once their football days were over. It was also written in the report that Carter graduated in 2005 with a degree in education.
Deadspin contacted Oklahoma State and discovered that Carter never received a degree. Carter and Bell withdrew from a class in early April 2004 to receive a W on their transcripts instead of an F. It is unclear if they were failing the class or not at the time of their withdrawals.
Sports Illustrated has not issued any kind of correction or editor’s note on its Oklahoma State report as of Friday afternoon.
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