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"  Last night, after Bode Miller completed the Alpine run that would earn him a bronze medal, NBC reporter Christin Cooper interviewed the U.S. skier at the bottom of the mountain. And while post-race interviews are typical, and often evoke emotion in the competing athletes, Cooper&amp;#039;s decision to ask particularly tough questions\u2014specifically, regarding Miller&amp;#039;s brother Chelone &amp;quot;Chilly&amp;quot; Miller, who died suddenly last year\u2014caused the skier to break down in tears on camera. When I first watched this, I, like thousands of other viewers, was shocked and incredibly uncomfortable with the interview (The full transcript is here.) Why, when she first saw that he was beginning to cry, did she continue to question him about Chilly until he literally collapsed? The Internet was quick to voice its disapproval\u2014a firestorm erupted crucifying Cooper on Twitter, outlets ranging from local news blogs to The New York Times criticized both Cooper and NBC, and someone even updated Cooper&amp;#039;s Wikipedia entry:  That Cooper and NBC pushed Miller too hard is hard to argue with. But does Cooper deserve to be vilified? Her job as a journalist is to ask tough questions. Should she have to face a mass public shaming for doing just that? What&amp;#039;s more, Cooper isn&amp;#039;t alone in bringing up sensitive issues, like a death in the family, to provoke reactions from Sochi competitors. The Salt Lake City Tribune even created a chart of reporters and news outlets who have done so. It&amp;#039;s no secret that viewers don&amp;#039;t watch the Olympics for its display of athletic ability alone. They also gobble up the human interest stories behind the competition\u2014Canadian skier Alex Bilodeau celebrating a gold medal win with his disabled brother, U.S. skeleton racer Noelle Pikus-Pace&amp;#039;s pre-Sochi miscarriage. Are reporting some of these details necessary, or even appropriate? Maybe not, but it&amp;#039;s become a requisite part of the media coverage surrounding the Olympics. And the very public that is up in arms about Cooper&amp;#039;s interview is the public that fuels these kinds of interviews. To put it simply, we thrive on drama. Good reporters know this and act on it, so why are we criticizing Cooper in particular? For one, Chilly Miller was a beloved snowboarder who planned on competing in the Olympics himself before he suddenly died of a seizure last April at just 29 years old. So the thought that he himself should be at Sochi was certainly present. For another, as antiquated as the &amp;quot;women are emotional, men are not&amp;quot; stereotype might be, there was something truly heartbreaking about seeing this guy, a fierce athlete who is usually so composed, completely fall apart. We expect Cooper, as a woman, to be more gentle, to be the one comforting, not instigating. And yes, I would posit that the final question that Cooper asked\u2014about looking up to the sky at the start of his run and &amp;quot;talking to someone&amp;quot;\u2014was off color. She knew who he was looking at, and who he was talking to, and after asking two other questions about Chilly, it probably wasn&amp;#039;t necessary to ask for more. (Though, to be fair, she was reporting on behalf of NBC and it seems likely that she wasn&amp;#039;t solely responsible for her questions or the length of the interview.) I can hardly speculate as to whether Cooper, a former Olympian herself, knew that she was in for such backlash, but I doubt she went into the interview thinking, &amp;#039;Hey, I&amp;#039;m going to kick this guy while he&amp;#039;s down.&amp;#039; Chilly&amp;#039;s death has been a huge part of Miller&amp;#039;s Olympic experience\u2014he has said so himself\u2014and to ignore it would have been to ignore part of his story. So perhaps the public should step back, take a deep breath, and take a cue from Miller&amp;#039;s own response. He tweeted the following last night:    I appreciate everyone sticking up for me. Please be gentle w christin cooper, it was crazy emotional and not all her fault. #heatofthemoment \u2014 Bode Miller (@MillerBode) February 17, 2014       My emotions were very raw, she asked the questions that every interviewer would have, pushing is part of it, she wasnt trying to cause pain. \u2014 Bode Miller (@MillerBode) February 17, 2014    I for one will now be directing my attention where it is due: to the skier&amp;#039;s well-deserved medal and his newly-earned title as the oldest Alpine skier to ever earn an Olympic medal. Congratulations, Bode Miller, for an incredible run in the face of awful tragedy. Image: Miller with wife Morgan Miller, Courtesy of Getty Images. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/news/a16490/christin-cooper-olympics-bode-miller-interview-cry/>