12/21/24
August 15, 2006
The Art of the Interview, ESPN-Style: Every single editorial employee at ESPN is expected to attend a three-day seminar to move away from Mike Wallace and Larry King style theatrics and more towards true 'journalism'. Who would have thought this ammount of brainwork went into the Budweiser Hot Seat.
posted by gradys_kitchen to culture at 04:47 PM - 9 comments
"Don't ask yes-or-no questions, keep questions short and avoid charged words, which can distract people."They graduated from high school without knowing that?
posted by ?! at 09:42 PM on August 15, 2006
Now, if they could just work on every single other aspect of their on-screen performance, well, then they'd be on to something.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 05:58 AM on August 16, 2006
So if ESPN takes the fun out of the interviews and makes them hard-hitting, will any athletes really want to be interviewed by them? Would Larry King have got to "interview" Bush if he believed in hard-htting journalism? Would Wallace have interviewed Ahmadinejad?
posted by bperk at 07:58 AM on August 16, 2006
What a great job. "Scott, you suck, Smith - suck, guy with the glasses - suck, Patrick - super mega suck - seriously dude, you should be a Hoover, okay, where were we - Neel - suck, Bayless, get out of my office, Jackson - you're cool, Simmons - not a journalist. Great! See everyone after lunch. Hey - Where the fuck do you eat in Connecticut?"
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:02 AM on August 16, 2006
Rule 1: When sitting in a room with Barry Bonds, never ask a direct question that is on the minds of half of your viewers: "Barry, did you take steroids." Instead, ask questions that allow the plyer to deny or place blame on others. "Barry, how have the Fans reacted to the rumors you used steroids?" Seriously, I'd be less inclined to laugh if the ESPN interviews didn't suck.
posted by LostInDaJungle at 12:23 PM on August 16, 2006
I love ESPN and everything that channel has to offer. Ok..maybe not World Series of Darts but you catch my drift. If it ain't broke, why fix it?
posted by BornIcon at 01:42 PM on August 16, 2006
Jim Rome vs. "Chris" Everett.......cool.
posted by jzonker at 06:06 PM on August 16, 2006
If it ain't broke, why fix it? He said, as the water rushed through the levees. Watch the old days of ESPN, with Berman before he became a caricature of himself, Charley Steiner, Bob Ley, Gayle Gardner, and the late, great Tom Mees. Then tell me ESPN ain't broke.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 04:51 AM on August 17, 2006
Pretty thin on a description of the "Sawatsky method," unfortunately. But it's interesting to know that somebody still thinks about old-fashioned journalism at ESPN.