Terrific: Grantland 30 for 30 on Richard Jewell; how media contributed to ruining his life

The latest 30 for 30 short series documentary on Grantland is on Richard Jewell. Tremendous.

It documents how in the frenzy to find the Atlanta Olympic bomber in 1996, Jewell went from hero to the nightmare of being wrongfully accused. His life never was the same.

The film is a sobering journalism lesson on the rush to judgment. Well worth your time.

The write-up from Grantland.

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On Saturday, July 27, 1996, a terrorist’s bomb exploded in Centennial Olympic Park at the Atlanta Summer Games, killing two and injuring 111. The toll would have been far higher if not for security guard Richard Jewell, who discovered the bag holding the bomb and helped clear the area. Yet within hours, praise of his heroism turned to vicious accusations. Jewell would be hounded for months by investigations and the media. Eventually, the FBI would capture and convict Eric Robert Rudolph for the crime. Judging Jewell revisits the scene in Atlanta where Richard Jewell, a man simply doing his job, lost the one thing he valued most — his honor.