I too thought NBC handled it poorly, to say the least. The reporter asked some exceedingly obvious questions that didn't need to be asked--her questioning was clumsy and awkward and pointless, really. Unless you are truly lacking basic human empathy, we all knew what he was thinking as he looked at the sky, etc etc. No need to prod him on it.
That said... I saw it live earlier in the day, and it was perhaps marginally less painful (emphasis on 'marginally') to watch at that time because, it being live, there was an element of uncertainty, along the lines of "what should we do now??" and "give him time to recover or keep after him??" Unfortunately, they erred massively when choosing to keep after him. (And, even as the reporter is being excoriated in the court of unbridled public opinion known as the Internet, I do have to wonder if she was following the producer's urgings in her earpiece--unless she wants to lose her job, she'll never be able to say and I doubt we'll ever know).
To my mind, replaying it in its entirety when NBC knew the outcome was the far more egregious misstep on NBC's part. I can't help but feel the true fault lies with the producers more than the reporter, clumsy though she was, especially given Bode's very classy response:
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2014-02-17 05:38 pm (UTC)That said... I saw it live earlier in the day, and it was perhaps marginally less painful (emphasis on 'marginally') to watch at that time because, it being live, there was an element of uncertainty, along the lines of "what should we do now??" and "give him time to recover or keep after him??" Unfortunately, they erred massively when choosing to keep after him. (And, even as the reporter is being excoriated in the court of unbridled public opinion known as the Internet, I do have to wonder if she was following the producer's urgings in her earpiece--unless she wants to lose her job, she'll never be able to say and I doubt we'll ever know).
To my mind, replaying it in its entirety when NBC knew the outcome was the far more egregious misstep on NBC's part. I can't help but feel the true fault lies with the producers more than the reporter, clumsy though she was, especially given Bode's very classy response:
http://www.today.com/sochi/bode-miller-nbc-reporter-i-dont-blame-her-all-emotional-2D12124900
I'll take my cue from him and simply hope that NBC learns a lesson from the entire thing.