The Media Interview

Newsweek reporter Nicki Gostin tried to ambush interview former 90210 and Charmed star Shannen Doherty for the Aug. 21-28, 2006 issue:

NG: Hi, Shannen, how are you?
SD: I’m good, thank you. I’m unpacking from New York. I can’t stand unpacking.

NG: Can’t you get your maid to do it?
SD: No! I’m a normal person. My housekeeper has better things to do.

NG: Tell me about your new show.
SD: I help relationships come to an end or sometimes help them go to the next level. It can be boyfriend or girlfriend, or if you want to quit your job.

NG: Haven’t you had some bad breakups? You tried to run over a boyfriend a long time ago, right?
SD: No, and if that’s the way you’re going with this then I’d rather not even do the interview.

NG: I just think it’s funny.
SD: I am not going to have things rehashed from 15 years ago. I’m not going to combat lies. I can already tell what’s going to be in your article.

NG: But—
SD: Let me hang up and call my publicist and then we’ll reconvene, because I’m not going down this path.

—CLICK *

Doherty did not call back.

Lots going on here:

1. It shows you that nothing is off the record.

2. Check out the double question: “Haven’t you had some bad breakups? You tried to run over a boyfriend a long time ago, right?” It’s a sign of either sloppy interviewing skills or a desire to railroad the interviewee.

3. The reporter says it’s “funny” that an actress with real-life relationship problems is playing a character who deals with relationships… perhaps the word she’s thinking of is “ironic”, but even then, it’s ironic only if you think the personal life of an actor is relevant to their roles. Suppose, for example, the reporter failed English in college and now writes for a living… ironic, but irrelevant to their current work.

4. Why was this printed in Newsweek? Do they publish transcripts of all failed interviews?

Peter Himler, who put me on to this story via his blog, The Flack, credits Doherty for saying she didn’t like the line of questioning and hanging up. He also wonders if her publicist could have avoided all this with some homework on the reporter. But then again, he muses:

In the end, I suspect that the mere mention in Newsweek of the show’s title and network justified the effort in the minds of the interview’s orchestrators.