Record deep dive challenged

[boulderjohn]

What I can say is our writer (Michael Menduno) actually spoke at length over video conference with the people behind the emails.

Michael Menduno is not a nobody.

Interview: Michael Menduno - DIVER magazine
Examining Early Technical Diving Deaths: The aquaCORPS Incident Reports (1992-1996)

 

[markmud]

(Not our Scuba Sam)

Thanks Big Kahuna for clearing that up! I was concerned.

cheers,
m²V2

 

[AfterDark]

Yes totally possible. The emails only came from one email address and was totally anonymous (so didn’t appear to be multiple people). You can read all the email contents as they have now been published to Facebook: ScubaSam

What I can say is our writer (Michael Menduno) actually spoke at length over video conference with the people behind the emails. He also spoke at length with a number of other people involved with the record including Gabr, as well as previous record holder Nuno Gomes and officials at Guinness and Netflix (as there is a documentary apparently being completed about the dive which Gabr is closely involved with).

We know who these “scuba Sam” people are and they are very reputable sources who were very close to Gabr and the world record dive.

Michael spent nearly 3 weeks researching the articles and interviewing widely.

It wasn't clear to me you knew scuba sam prior to receiving the email or that it was only one email and not several. I have no dog in this fight as they say just asking what I thought at the time was a legit question. Thanks!

 

[AfterDark]

I have a mug shot of this Scuba Sam maybe someone can identify him

View attachment 609893

You made me LOL and wake up Mrs. AD!!

 

[vjb.knife1]

Whether or not you have light at that depth and how cold it is depends a lot on where you are of course. I have never been diving in this area but that was probably considered when they chose this area. I am surprised that there is that much light and also that they are not cold. I have been up to 200m on saturation dives in the Pacific off the coast of Chile and it was pretty much flat black dark at depth. We had lights attached to our helmets and we were using hot water suits because the water was very cold at that depth. Like I said this was a completely different area, but after 4 or 5 hours even in 80 degree F water almost everyone will be extremely cold.

 

[stephanwhelan]

It wasn't clear to me you knew scuba sam prior to receiving the email or that it was only one email and not several. I have no dog in this fight as they say just asking what I thought at the time was a legit question. Thanks!

Nope never heard of scuba Sam before started getting the emails. It was very obviously a mailing list from an anonymous source. Once we started getting them and collaborating with other journalists and media outlets to determine the legitimacy of the emails. Michael Menduno (as pointed out) is one do the foremost journalists in the diving media and is an expert in technical diving. He is credited with actually coining the term “technical diving”.

To be clear the emails with the details were coming out weeks before Scuba News published. They had access to the same content we did and their article is essentially a straight summary of the content of those emails from “Scuba Sam” - which is now available on Facebook from Scuba Sam. I suppose my point here is that Scuba News does not appear to be affiliated with the emails and is just reporting the news. They were first out the door with the article but that’s because they were taking the content at face value rather than conducting wider interviews like we were.

Michael (and I as I edited the articles on DeeperBlue) know who the people are under the pseudonym “scuba Sam” are. They have reasons to keep their identity secret as they fear reprisals but we have confirmed who they are. We can’t confirm it the content is correct (and there are gaps in their story too) but I do have to say Gabr’s interview with us doesn’t really address the allegations and leaves a lot more questions than answers.

We don’t have access to the raw material for a full investigation (and that is better conducted by experts in any case) so hence why DeeperBlue reported the information and interviews as we know it. However i can tell you the sources are very reputable and intimately know the events surrounding the dive. That is why we jointly published across DeeperBlue.com and GUE In-Depth Magazine as a joint feature.

 

[100days-a-year]

So unsourced and unattributed rumors get published??? Sounds more like FB than journalism. Journalistic as well as personal integrity would require me to be more forthcoming with proofs and sources.

 

[stephanwhelan]

So unsourced and unattributed rumors get published??? Sounds more like FB than journalism. Journalistic as well as personal integrity would require me to be more forthcoming with proofs and sources.

You don’t need to disclose sources if you are comfortable with confirming who they are, what they are saying and reasons to be kept anonymous.

I’ve explained the background from our side. I’ve shared the articles. I’m personally comfortable with the journalistic validation that has gone into it - but am only talking about what we published on DeeperBlue and In-Depth.

Up to you now to decide if it stacks up or not.

Personally I don’t think it’s clear cut but there is enough there to raise quite a few questions and Gabr’s responses just don’t answer the allegations fully. Does that mean he did or didn’t do it - no idea. Up to you all to analyse and decide yourselves.

 

[boulderjohn]

So unsourced and unattributed rumors get published??? Sounds more like FB than journalism. Journalistic as well as personal integrity would require me to be more forthcoming with proofs and sources.

Reputable journalistic sources frequently publish stories that include anonymous stories. That's how the Watergate facts were revealed--the source was not revealed for decades. There's a major story playing out in American news right now using anonymous sources. Hardly a day goes by where that does not happen. A reputable journal, newspaper, etc. will use such sources when its leadership is sure the source is credible.

 

[Celt]

There are no specific allegations, just nitpicking about the speed of the deep assent and innuendo concerning whether or not the Scubapro timer was metric or imperial. The facts are he retrieved the 335 tag to the satisfaction of the Guinness officials so the record holds. Thankfully social media don’t get to decide whether a record is genuine or not, there’s protocols in place to ensure that.