Ryan Howard, Ryan Zimmerman Sue Al Jazeera America Over Doping Report

Ryan Howard, Ryan Zimmerman Sue Al Jazeera America Over Doping Report

If you haven't been following the story, here's what happened. Al Jazeera sent a known con artist to pose as an athlete hoping for a comeback (he is a former hurdler). The con artist talked to a dealer who claimed to be able to get him the good stuff. The conversations between the dealer and the con man were recorded secretly.

The dealer has since recanted, claiming quite believably that he had tried to impress his potential client with the fact that he was a big-time guy and, in that process, dropped many famous names.

"He kept on pressing me on naming athletes I worked with. He said it was very important so he could feel confident sending his European athletes over. I just started to tell him disinformation stories about athletes. None of it was true."

Al Jazeera knew that the dealer had recanted and declared himself a boaster, but aired the special anyway. The network was also caught in at least one outright lie: they claimed that they had verified the dealer had worked for a certain clinic when he allegedly supplied Peyton Manning. It turns out that they could not have verified that since it never happened. The guy was an unpaid intern at the clinic two years after the events he claimed to be a part of.

ESPN did the legwork that Al-Jazeera shunned.