Didn't he also ask the Paterno's for $1 million to make a documentary exonerating Paterno? And only after being rebuffed, he went all-in on the Sandusky is innocent storyline?
Did he not buy in 100% to the Clemente report until Clemente (and Scott) said he should not out AM on national TV? Did he in fact out AM anyway on his website the next day? (Yes, he did). At that point he had painted himself into a corner and had to go whole-hog on Sandusky is innocent storyline.
The two above things happened almost simultaneously.
If there was ever a real debate to happen against Zig, it would focus on HIS motivations & why he feels the need to settle certain scores.
Regarding the Clemente Report, that was what actually inspired Ziegler to interview Sandusky in the first place. Jim theorized that Sandusky did not see himself as a child abuser, but instead as someone who honestly felt he was loving the kids he committed sexual acts with. He also believed Sandusky would feel terrible about how his actions affected Paterno and PSU. Therefore, Ziegler felt he may be able to glean some information that would help exonerate Joe.
Then after Ziegler actually interviewed Sandusky, his views began to change, particularly when he followed a formula that Clemente told him would guarantee a confession, but still Sandusky proclaimed his innocence. The formula was acknowledging the the worse offenses were likely false, but that the last chance Sandusky would have to possibly salvage his legacy was to come clean about the relatively minor acts he did commit.
By the way, It took almost a full year after Ziegler “outed” Myers and a year and a half after telling Scott Paterno that a high quality documentary film would cost about a million before publicly declaring Sandusky’s innocence.
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