(Rob Schumacher/USA TODAY Sports)
The big Olympic story on Monday was Bode Miller’s tearful interview with NBC’s Christin Cooper. Had NBC gone too far in asking the bronze medalist about his late brother, Chilly, who died last year? Or was this just a sad situation that happened to unfold in front of the cameras? Some new information by Barry Svrluga of The Washington Post helps clear it up.
Perspective on @MillerBode NBC interview. He did an NBC interview with @a_weibrecht there too. Then went to the Olympic Broadcast feed …
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) February 18, 2014
… OBS asked him who he dedicated his win to. Only then did he get emotional. He then did a German TV interview, then Russian, near NBC.
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) February 18, 2014
NBC people saw him get emotional, and asked if they could have one more question. He went back, and the results are now well-known.
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) February 18, 2014
As Svrluga says in a follow-up tweet, it’s hard to figure out what this new information means. It’s probably in the eye of the beholder. If, like many, you thought Cooper and NBC were too exploitive in repeatedly asking Miller about his brother, then in airing the interview instead of editing it out, you’ll read Svrluga’s tweets and say, “see, they were badgering him!”
(Getty Images)
But if you’re like me and thought NBC didn’t do anything wrong, this new information backs up our case. Cooper didn’t hector Miller into talking about something he didn’t want to. Evidently, she didn’t bring up Miller’s late brother during her first interview, then requested a follow-up only after hearing the Miller was willing to speak about it. It turned into a difficult situation when Miller was unable to get through the interview, but every party consented beforehand.
NBC isn’t wrong for wanting to push human-interest stories either. It’s always a popular criticism of its Olympic coverage — “it’s a sporting event, not an episode of Extreme Home Makeover. We don’t need to hear all these sob stories!” Nonsense. The Olympics are a human-interest story, just one that’s set to the backdrop of an international sporting event. No one cares about the anonymous athlete racing head first down a manmade track. It’s not until you hear the story of Noelle Pikus-Pace, see videos of her family and learn what the Olympics means to her that you grow invested in her outcome. Because we only have a few hours with these athletes, we need to hear their stories. This isn’t the NFL, where you learn about players over the course of 16 weeks and many years. It’s a one-shot deal with the Olympics.
Cooper wouldn’t have been doing her job if she hadn’t asked Miller why he was crying. The story of Miller’s brother is tragic, but it clearly wasn’t off-limits.
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