If it was a less intense subject, people would be more willing to dig deeper than the upper crust of the matter at hand. With rape, most people are too hesitant to go against the grain for a few reasons. Until the matter comes to a conclusion, the public opinion will continue to skew heavily toward Tennessee (and the players) being guilty. People in different groups will attack them via social media and will undoubtedly call for those writers' jobs because they aren't appearing supportive of rape victims (whether it's proved that they're rape victims or not). If it ends up being outed that the allegations are true, those against-the-grain writers just end up branded as members of the media complicit in covering up rape.
I can't fault someone in the media from being hesitant. When these difficult topics cross over into sports, you suddenly have sports journalists being required to cover themes that aren't in their wheelhouse. Not all sports journalists are Outside The Lines-worthy. Yet when these stories pop up in their territory, they're required to be the person to talk about it. It's much easier to side with people branded as victims. Public opinion says they're a good person who cares for women's rights, and the people who get angered by their article/segment/what-have-you are dragged on social media as misogynists and rapist-supporters.
