Big Accusations, Big Interview

This week I chose to go to one of my favorite programs, E:60. I love the in-depth features this show produces and I really like about half of the journalists on the program. Although I feel they are all very good at what they do, some of them really rub me the wrong way in their demeanor and presentation. That's why I chose to view Michael Smith's segment from last week's show. Michael Smith has always been one of my favorite sports journalists, even from his days back at the Boston Globe before he joined ESPN's team. The story he did this week was an interview chronicling the life of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger since this summer, when a woman alleged that he sexually assaulted her a year ago. There are several things Smith did in this segment that struck me as being textbook quality journalism, especially when dealing with such a sensitive subject as yet another sexual assault allegation against a pro athlete.

The first thing that Smith did that I liked was to establish a rapport with Roethlisberger before sitting down to do the tough interview. The piece began with Smith joining Roethlisberger and his close friend on the team at a shooting range. One thing that stood out to me in this segment was Smith's attire; it was a bit flashy for my liking, as it drew a lot of attention to itself, but it was alright in my opinion since the situation clearly called for casual dress rather than the usual TV journalism full suit approach. While this beginning segment of the piece doesn't address the allegations right away, it does do well to establish a rapport between Smith and Roethlisberger before the interview gets under way. Obviously, this is critically important for Smith to do (whether on camera or off) before he sits down to do an interview in which he will need to ask some tough questions. However, I feel that it was just as important to establish this friendly yet professional relationship between Smith and Roethlisberger for the viewer; even as a journalist, I sometimes see interviews where tough questions are asked and I find myself rooting against the journalist because they seem like an attack dog more than someone who is just doing their job. By showing the viewers that there is a mutual respect and a working relationship established between the two before the tough questions start flying, it helps the audience to empathize with Smith more.

Without going into the details of the court case, I did find two things very interesting from this story. First was the fact that the woman waited a year to come out with these allegations. In these situations, I often find myself wondering why anyone would wait so long. I understand that there is a great degree of mental as well as physical trauma that can come with sexual assault, however a year seems to me to be a bit excessive. Secondly, I thought it was a great piece of journalism when Smith unburied the nugget about when and where Roethlisberger was when he was served with his papers in this case. He was at a charity golf event, and was acutally signing an autograph for a kid at the time when he was served. I think sometimes we place professional athletes on such a high pedastal that they don't seem to be real people anymore. Sharing a little detail like that went a long way to helping me fit in Roethlisberger's shoes for a moment to try to realize what it must have been like to be hit with those accusations.

I also found it interesting that Smith got many of Roethlisberger's teammates and Big Ben himself to admit that his teammates were much more supportive after this crisis than they were just three years earlier when Roethlisberger had a very controversial and dangerous motorcycle accident. Just months after the end of his rookie season and a Super Bowl win, Roethlisberger had a terrible motorcycle crash that severely injured his neck and head. To make matters worse, the details surrounding the crash were hazy at best and very suspicious. At best, it appeared that Roethlisberger had been riding recklessly; at worst, it could have been drunk driving. In any case, however, he had apparently been aloof with teammates following the Super Bowl win and had let the fame go to his head. Back then they saw him as distant, and they were uneager to come to his aid. Now, three years later, Big Ben has gone to great lengths to change that perception and all of his teammates that spoke for this story agreed that he has come a long way in his leadership skills and that he is a much better teammate now. I thought it was great that Smith not only spoke to so many other players on the team from all different positions, but that he also got them to admit that they weren't fond of Roethlisberger back then. I think it goes to show a lot about his character that they would admit that while still going to bat for him now. The little segment about the lakehouse visits with his offensive lineman had some great video and they did a good job of showing how he had grown closer to his teammates.

Finally, I thought Smith did a good job of asking some harder questions in this interview and getting Roethlisberger to give honest, insightful answers rather than just rehearsed and regurgitated scripted answers. Getting Roethlisberger to admit to previous faults helped to establish a greater level of credibility in my eyes when he then denied the accusations about his sexual assault. If he was willing to admit to personal shortcomings and mistakes from his past like the motorcycle accident, it made me think that perhaps he was being completely honest when he denies all of the charges. I also liked how Smith pushed him a little bit when he was asking him why he didn't just settle the lawsuit and donate money to a charity for battered women; it showed that Roethlisberger was really committed to clearing his name.

Although I liked this piece quite a bit, there was definitely one thing that stood out to me that I did not like; Smith ended on a quote, and in my opinion the quote was nowhere near strong enough to justify breaking this cardinal rule of TV packages. Also, although I previously said I liked the intro segment because it established a working relationship between Smith and Roethlisberger as well as a rapport between the audience and Roethlisberger, it didn't tie extremely well into the overall themes of the story. It was decent at showing that Big Ben has taken greater steps to connect with teammates, but I can't help but feel that a stronger intro could have been used in this story. Going back to the closing of the story, I think Smith would have done well to throw in even just a line or two about where the legal battle is right now or what we can expect in the near future. Court dates, jury selection, or anything relating to the trial could have easily wrapped this story up nicely rather than ending on a so-so bite.