In all honesty, I really do not want to write another article about UGA vs AJC. But “Round 3” started and almost the entire fanbase is paying attention to it again.
If you haven’t heard by now, Sunday afternoon, Jason Butt of UGAsports.com came out with an article saying that Alan Judd has had a history of Misleading quotes, Leaving things out of his reporting, and creating narratives that are not 100% true. Eventually, he stepped down from his previous job prior to his tenure at the AJC.
Now as a person who went to Journalism school; I tend to take up for the Journalist, because I know how hard the job can be. I’m sure rocket scientists feel the same way when another rocket scientist gets blamed for things. But this is a really bad look not only on Judd but the AJC.
Did the AJC even vet this guy? He had to step down because of many of the same issues that seem to appear in his more recent article about the UGA Football Program. Also, if there is a cardinal sin in journalism it would be what Judd did back in Louisville.
While I was reading the article I was thinking well look, that does not necessarily mean he did the same thing with his pieces on the football program at Georgia “rallying” around players when they are accused of sexual assault. But it does leave room to maybe be skeptical of his reporting. Having an honest reputation is a pretty big key as a journalist.
But hey bygones be bygones, it was 30 some odd years ago. Until I saw this quote Judd said to Butt, when Butt was asking why wasn’t this disclosed to the public and does the AJC know?
"“Obviously, this has been fed to you — even my personal telephone number, which is known to a relatively small number of people at UGA. Is your devotion to the “Dawgs” so great that you want to try to destroy a person whose work over the past century has exposed atrocities in the state mental hospitals, saving countless lives; helped expose a cheating scandal in the Atlanta Public Schools that had life-altering detrimental effects on thousands of poor African-American children; spurred legislative changes to protect children in the state’s foster care system; and much more.“So do whatever you want to do to ingratiate yourself with Coach Smart and others at UGA. Drag up the worst moment in someone’s life from 3 1/2 decades ago, and ignore everything since then.“I hope whatever momentary advantage you gain with UGA is worth the personal degradation you put yourself through”."
This has three layers of problems for me. One, Butt is asking a very reasonable question here. He’s doing his job, just like you are trying to do your job investigating if something is true or not. Secondly, Judd looked into a 16-year-old boy’s life, where he made some very poor decisions, whether he was charged or not. Jarret probably had to deal with the embarrassment again. Also, the UGA letter said Judd basically called Jarret a sexual predator without saying it. So, Judd tried to “destroy” a person’s life during a very rough period in their life. What is the saying about Karma?
Another thing here is the social grandstanding he’s doing. Alan, John Wayne Gacy was a great clown at kid’s parties too until everyone figured out he murdered children for fun. Just because you have reported on these topics does not clear you of not being judged on the merits of your reporting on this story. Especially if you’ve been caught lying and had to resign.
Like I said at the start, I really don’t want to write another story about UGA Vs AJC. I think the University has proven pretty bluntly that Smart and the football staff are innocent of any wrongdoing. I am sure however, round 4 happens in the coming weeks. Until then, enjoy reading about things that actually have an impact on the field.