Deflategate is wrapping up, or is at least on a hold for now, as the Patriots have run out to a 3-0 start.

The full fallout from this muckraking has not fully been revealed.

The way ESPN, the primary sports media source for many Americans, handled this story however sticks out.

ESPN has been the subject of criticism as it altered a published column by Mike Reiss, the outlet’s  longtime Patriots beat, wrote a pro-Patriots piece pointing out critical facts overlooked in the Deflategate investigation and media coverage.

Editors felt the column needed a “tighter edit” and took out some of Reiss’ points.

As an article from Forbes magazine pointed out, the editors at ESPN did not feel that Chris Mortensen  needed a tighter edit for any of his Deflategate input.

This is despite the fact that almost all of Mortensen’s facts have been proven fake or inaccurate.

Mortensen incited the initial round of the Deflategate circus with a tweet directly following the Patriots decimation of the Colts in the 2014 AFC Championship game.

Mortensen reported 11 of the 12 Patriot game balls were deflated at least 2 psi below league regulations, which was shown innacurate by the well funded Wells Report.

Not to mention that Tom Brady’s NFL suspension for the incident was overturned by a federal judge.

According to the report one referee’s measurements said that no balls were under this threshold and according to the other referee’s measurements only one ball was beyond this reported limit by Mortensen.

Mortensen nor ESPN have apologized for the story.

Rather instead Mortensen has defended his claims multiple times saying that even if he had produced correct information the effect would have been the same.

ESPN also referenced stories from Spygate, a previous scandal involving the Patriots, that was also proven false.

In doing so, they painted a false image of the Patriots as habitual NFL cheaters.

The only apology they issued for that story was during a 1 a.m. broadcast on a Thursday.

News outlets must be held to high ethical standards, and ESPN is no exception.

As the largest and most respected sports journalism outlet, ESPN should be held accountable and to a higher standard.