Penn State coach Joe Paterno might suspend leading receiver Tony Johnson, who has been charged with drunken driving.

Paterno said Tuesday, he has not decided on a punishment for

Johnson, although he is considering a suspension for a game "just

because I have to send a message to the squad that it is

inappropriate to be out in the middle of the week having a couple

of drinks."

Johnson, 21, a senior, was pulled over early Friday morning. A

university police officer said he observed Johnson's car twice

cross the center line of a campus street; the officer reported

smelling alcohol and said Johnson failed a field sobriety test. A

blood test indicated that Johnson had a blood-alcohol level of

0.136 percent, well above Pennsylvania's legal limit of 0.08

percent.

Paterno also criticized the media for the handling of off-field

news involving Penn State football players.

"Obviously, it will all get blown out of proportion because he

is a football player, but he didn't do anything to anybody,"

Paterno said. "You guys are all going to blow it way out of

proportion."

Paterno said that reporters had been overly critical of Anwar

Phillips, a defensive back who was acquitted in August on sexual

assault charges, and that they had been slow to report when accused

players were exonerated.

Several weeks ago, Paterno said reporters had been unfair to

former quarterback Rashard Casey, who was accused in 2000 of

assaulting a New Jersey police officer. A grand jury refused to

charge Casey.

A misdemeanor charge of receiving stolen property against

defensive tackle Scott Paxson was dismissed, although Paxson did

plead guilty to a summary charge of criminal mischief after police

said they caught him riding an allegedly stolen bicycle. And punter

Jeremy Kapinos was allowed to enter a youth-offender program on an

alcohol charge, but a disorderly conduct charge was dismissed

Monday when a district judge ruled that there was not enough

evidence.

"Nobody puts that in the paper," Paterno said. "That is a

little bit bothersome to me and I would be dishonest if I told you

otherwise. That is bothersome to me. That doesn't mean that I am

condoning what Tony did, because I think he was wrong. But to what

degree?"

Center David Costlow said he didn't think previous off-field

incidents had distracted the team, and he didn't think Johnson's

arrest would affect Penn State's preparation for No. 16 Iowa.

"It's unfortunate, but we're focused on football," Costlow

said. "That's something that happens, and we're going to go on and

practice like we always do."