Things We Didn't Say Today

The choices that one makes affect many people.

As Mike Penner retours the world as Christine Daniels, there is at least one thing that won't be discussed.

In all three interviews Daniels has conducted on radio, she has not been asked about her wife, L.A. Times sportswriter Lisa Dillman. The two are divorcing and SbB [Sports by Brooks] has learned that Daniels will only appear on shows that agree not to ask about her marriage to Dillman and their pending divorce.

This upset an AOL blogger.

Journalists should not be in the business of setting conditions for their interviews. if Daniels wants to decline to answer certain questions during an interview, that's OK. And if she wants to decline to do interviews altogether, that's OK too.

But for Daniels to set a precondition for her interviews suggests that that's an acceptable journalistic practice, and it isn't.

Todd disagreed:

It is common practice for conditions to be made for special interviews. If a journalist wants a story bad enough, they have to accept conditions. And I am sure that there are writers for the LA Times and the NY Times that do it all the time.

But NikkiW remembers that Christine is brave, a heroine to all, and (pardon me, Mr. Barkley) a role model:

Christine was brave to share what is for many people going through what she is going through a very personal and private matter. It is nobody's business what her soon to be ex partner has to say about this. Christine's ex spouse deserves the time and privacy to grieve the loss of her husband and it is not unreasonable for that condition to be in place to protect her. I just hope Lisa will remain a good and trusted friend to Christine.

And Ray notes, for better or for worse, that Lisa just doesn't matter:

However, the simple fact is that this story is about Christine, not her soon-to-be-former wife....[I]f I were Lisa, I'd rather not be a part of the public discussion. So it could be that the condition is based on Lisa's wishes, not Christine's.

But stories have a way of changing their paths.

lisadillman

Sphere: Related Content