Katie Couric finds Manti Te’o very believable
Katie Couric joined the show to talk about interviewing Manti Te’o for her ABC show. The interview will air today.
“I think he did very well,” Couric said. “It was incredibly compelling. He was very honest about how this relationship unfolded. I don’t think he concocted this hoax.”
Couric said there are interesting journalistic lessons in this story.“There was a lot of information out there … some of it inaccurate,” Couric said.
Couric said that Te’o added to the myth by the things he said. “I don’t think he’s totally innocent in how this story got out,” Couric said, “but he was victimized.”
Couric said that Te’o played a voicemail for her and noted that it sounded like a girl. Couric said Te’o said that if it was a man, than that man was very talented.
“I think it was a strange, co-dependent relationship,” Couric said.
Couric discussed how Te’o could fall for this. “I think he’s a very naive, very young 21-year-old who’s very dependent on his family,” Couric said.
Dan asked Couric if Te’o would have come out with this on his own if Deadspin.com didn’t break the story. She said that they had started to discuss how to handle the situation, but she didn’t know.