USA At present nationwide sports activities columnist Christine Brennan continued to defend her journalistic integrity this week after a scathing assertion from the Ladies’s Nationwide Basketball Gamers Affiliation (WNBPA) referred to as for the veteran journalist’s credentials to primarily be revoked after an interview with Connecticut Solar guard Dijonai Carrington.
Addressing the incident on the “Good Sport with Sarah Spain” podcast, Brennan defended her line of questioning with Carrington throughout the opening spherical of the WNBA playoffs, when she requested Carrington if she had supposed to hit Caitlin Clark within the eye throughout Sport 1 of the Solar’s playoff collection in opposition to the Indiana Fever.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark reacts after getting hit within the eye throughout Sport 1 of the primary spherical of the 2024 WNBA playoffs in opposition to the Connecticut Solar Sept. 22, 2024, at Mohegan Solar Enviornment in Uncasville, Conn. (M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs)
She additionally requested Carrington if she laughed about it later within the sport regardless of the participant saying she was not conscious she had hit Clark within the eye.
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“You realize what you do as a journalist? You ask the query, and also you give them an opportunity to take it and run with it. And that’s precisely what was my intention, that’s precisely what I did,” Brennan stated.
She defined she requested the questions as a result of the interplay had turn into nationwide information and that these have been the narratives being talked about on social media. Brennan stated she wished to present Carrington the area to deal with the state of affairs.
“You simply give them an opportunity … give her an opportunity to reply the query as a result of it was operating rampant on the web,” Brennan stated. “It’s on the market, so let’s ask the athlete to allow them to clear the air.”
DiJonai Carrington of the Connecticut Solar brings the ball up court docket within the second quarter in opposition to the Chicago Sky at Mohegan Solar Enviornment Sept. 19, 2024, in Uncasville, Conn. (Mike Lawrie/Getty Photographs)
Brennan defended her strategy, calling it “Journalism 101,” including that she’s needed to ask the robust questions many occasions earlier than, together with to a number of big-name male athletes.
“I’m by no means going to shrink back from asking any query of any athlete, and I’m completely happy to do it,” Brennan stated.
WNBPA ISSUES SCATHING STATEMENT ACCUSING USA TODAY COLUMNIST OF INTERVIEW ‘DESIGNED TO FUEL’ RACISM
The WNBPA responded with an announcement claiming the road of questioning fueled “racist, homophobic and misogynistic vitriol” on-line. It even referred to as for Brennan’s credentials to primarily be revoked.
Brennan stated she was “shocked” by the assertion, and whereas she didn’t take it “evenly,” she stated a name for her to be banned was an “overreaction.”
“I believed it was an entire overreaction. I feel many, many individuals in journalism thought the very same factor as we’ve seen in columns and responses. And that’s high quality, and I’m heartened by that. If individuals suppose it is high quality and I needs to be banned, that’s, after all — it’s a free nation, they will say that.”
USA At present columnist Christine Brennan asks a query at a Group USA press convention throughout the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Video games on the Predominant Press Centre. (Shanna Lockwood/USA At present Sports activities)
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Brennan agreed that whereas the local weather of the WNBA could also be completely different, she’s lengthy been an advocate for ladies’s sports activities all through her profession.
“You could have somebody right here who has cared about this trigger, the reason for ladies’s sports activities, the mistreatment when it comes to lack of media protection, the racism, sexism, misogyny,” she stated. “Should you don’t like me, high quality. However I feel it’s fairly necessary to take a look at the physique of labor right here and, 5 – 6 columns about Caitlin Clark that folks need to be upset about, go forward and be upset about it. It’s a free nation.
“However, my goodness, you definitely are lacking a number of the issues that I’ve labored my hardest on and put my soul into.”
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