When journalists cross the line

Let’s take another trip to Russia — I bet no one has ever said that before.
Following every Olympic Games is an army of journalists stalking and starving for a good story. Besides records being made or beaten, journalists try to get to know the human beyond the athlete. Sometimes, it doesn’t work out too well.

NBC’s Christin Cooper set an example for all journalists when her questions led to one athlete’s emotional breakdown.

Olympic champion alpine skier Bode Miller broke into tears during his post-race interview with Cooper, in which she pushed him with questions about his deceased brother. Bode’s brother Chelone “Chilly” Miller died after a seizure last year.  Chilly was a snowboarder hoping to join his older brother in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Cooper wasn’t the only one taking advantage of Bode’s most personal life moments. NBC kept bringing them up. Before Bode’s event began, the network broadcasted a package showcasing the intimate aspects of his life off the mountain, and the same subjects were brought up later in an interview with Matt Lauer.

The reason Cooper is taking most of the heat is because her questions were merciless and her interview tactless. Bode was the first to bring up his brother in an answer to one of Cooper’s question. It was understandable for Cooper to in turn ask a question about his brother. Beyond that, the subject was unnecessary.

The man is the highest-decorated U.S. Olympic alpine skier and the sport’s oldest medal winner. He just won his sixth medal in a nail-biting tie with Canada in what may be his last Olympics, and she wanted to press him about his brother.

Bode took to Twitter to defend Cooper, saying she asked the questions any other reporter would have, and he doesn’t believe she intended to cause any pain.

Upon learning that Bode actually knows Cooper and that Cooper is a former Olympic skier, I agree that she wasn’t trying to cause him pain. But that doesn’t make her performance as a journalist less awful.

People don’t always realize that there is more to being a journalist than a fast-paced Brooklyn accent, a coffee addiction and a notepad permanently attached to your hand. They have a lot to learn beyond fact checking and how to write a good lede.

Every journalist knows that there is a time and a place. We may have all wondered the same questions as Cooper, but that doesn’t mean you ask them right after his race while he’s surrounded by fellow athletes, fans and dozens of media sharks.

There is also a time to walk away. Body language can be just as loud as words, and journalists should at least have a minor understanding of that. It doesn’t take a behavioral analyst to tell you that when a grown man wipes a tear from his eye he’s done, and it’s time to stop.

There is a line between getting the deeper story and fishing for emotion. NBC crossed it.

Sometimes journalists forget that the people they interview aren’t just stories, they’re humans. Their objectivity or determination can turn any subject into a front-page feature or a primetime package.

Hopefully in the future, Cooper will keep this in mind and refrain from reducing another Olympic champion to tears.
    

­— lnbanks@indiana.edu
Follow columnist
Lexia Banks on Twitter
@LexiaBanks