"
She really didn't know. She is one of those people who asks "how long was your marathon?".
It almost came across like he was visiting New Orleans and decided to run the race on a lark and showed remarkable aptitude for running."
Lulz, excatly my thoughts. I have to say though, this woman makes me feel much better about myself. If such a unbelievable moron can have a job (as a TV anchor no less) then the sky is the limit for the rest of us!
fasdfasdf wrote:
She should be fired. She deserves to be fired for being so ignorant.
I don;t think she should be fired. Who would replace her? It would only be worse. At least she has a semblance of competence after having performed her job for a given period. She faked her way into a hole, and was so general and superficial that we see just how cultured the average TV personality is.
I want to give her the benefit of the doubt, but it is clear that she had no idea who he was, how long the race was and/or wtf was going on. If she knew it was him, why would she fail to mention his Olympic medals? Why would she say that he is "off to a good start?"
That being said, I certainly do not expect everyone to know who Mo Farah is, so the blame is equally on the station. If there was a big Judo championship and the gold medalist came and won, I'd have no idea who he was either, but I would expect a producer at the station to prepare me by Googling his name.
With regard to her responses to him, he is rather hard to understand, so I get that she may have had absolutely no idea what he was saying. He doesn't exactly enunciate.
Props to Farah for keeping it classy.
About a year ago a SPORTS reporter kept mispronouncing "Brittany Reese" around the time of the Olympics. That was on the radio. Sent him a sarcastic email. Googled him. His expertise was in golf and baseball. He never replied. Someone probably misspelled her name on the script he was reading and, of course, he did not know enough to recognize the mistake. NBC reporter.
Sorry, Brittney.
She failed as a reporter but not as a average American. It is odd that she didn't try to find out something about Farah (if nobody already did it for her) before the interview. However, it is not suprising because she is only reflecting the general disinterest in long distance running and it is not really her fault that this sport is not appreciated the way you do. I would be more shocked if she interviewed Usain Bolt & did not know anything about him. How many Americans do you think would ID Galen Rupp yet he brought a medal to the country?
I think it's a failing at every level for this TV station. They jump on something that happens every day with the classic "we broke the story" line, as if they are the reincarnation of Walter Cronkite.
Here, the talking head and the station missed the opportunity to market themselves as the first ones to interview a 2-time Olympic Gold medalist and national hero of the London games to his countrymen.
Major failure on their part, considering the mundane things they cover daily.
as an american, i am ashamed for her.
No one at the station did his/her job. Yes, the on air person should be prepared, but what kind of TV producer sends her in without any preparation? And whoever was doing the graphics flashed "Marathon Winner" on the screen even when Mo made clear that's not what he is. Absolutely everyone at he station messed up.
"So Mr. James, scoring 28 points is very impressive. Have you ever played basketball before?"
"Do you have any other basketball games coming up in the future?"
Numerous stories on this now...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2013/02/26/mo-farah-awkward-interview/1948733/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/26/mo-farah-run-before
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/athletics/video-tv-anchor-asks-olympic-1732090
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2284729/
http://www.runnersworld.com/fun/awful-mo-farah-interview-complete-transcript
http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/interviewer-sets-world-record-worst-mo-farah-interview
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/02/26/mo-farah-interview_n_2764414.html
I was having coffee with Anthony Fam. last month. He starts talking to the waitress about how he's going to run a half marathon in Naples. She looks at him and says oh are you any good? He smiled and said yeah I think I'm pretty good.
I lol'd way to go to Fam for staying humble.
stick with eharmony wrote:
I was having coffee with Anthony Fam. last month. He starts talking to the waitress about how he's going to run a half marathon in Naples. She looks at him and says oh are you any good? He smiled and said yeah I think I'm pretty good.
I lol'd way to go to Fam for staying humble.
Cool story, but that is a little different. Would you recognize a random winter Olympics athletes if they were having coffee and talking about a future trip to Aspen? I mean, if it were Lindsay Vonn, yeah, but what about one of the Snowboard XC guys?
Flying Tiger wrote:
I thought reporters did some research before interviews. Props to Farah. I could never have been that polite.
Local TV reporters don't.
On Twitter Mo Farah just tweeted:
@piersmorgan haha it was bit funny..!! I felt sorry for her... So I tried to help her out...!! All good though!
She is a desk reporter talking head doing a 90 second filler piece about the Charity Joggathon Parade that closed down part of the city. Pick up the next piece of paper read it>>> move on to the next sheet on the pile. Bet she did a dozen of those mindless lifestlye/city happenings/filler pieces on a dozen different topics during the show. I can see the station not looking at it as a professional sports result piece but as a community happening report so why would anyone there think an Olympic medalist was involved.
I can hear the staff meeting with segment producers: Burt me 90 seconds about the jogging thing, that women who had triplets at the mall, and a 45 on the new Community Gardens in Northside. Karen give me a 60 about the BUY 'N' EAT no longer allowing couponing and a 90 on ....
She stumbled. Forgot her question. No big deal.
Mo should have responded in a simple manner. One that doesn't result in having to feel sorry for the interviewer, or assume they don't know what running is. She does know what running is. She just didn't ask a proper question.
"I have run, and felt better, at this distance. Later this year I am hoping to run faster times than I did a year ago."
She probably had just seen to many do you even lift memes and did the same with Mo in the running context
Actually, I'm in grad school for journalism. Reporters are supposed to know who they're talking to. This lady failed. I sent a little note to the station. Doubt they'll get rid of her since now she is considered reliable and able to handle 'face time'. If she'd broken an FCC rule, she would be canned, but not for this snafu.
After watching the video it seems like she meant to say haven't you run a half marathon before. She just got mixed in her words. No big deal, petty runners move on.