Posted by Nora Roberts on April 18, 2002 at 08:27:50:
In Reply to: Idaho Statesman posted by LLB on April 17, 2002 at 14:03:51:
One of the reasons I don't post here is because there are some posters who habitually blast me whenever I post an opinion. As is evidenced by a couple of the reactions to my opinion on this discussion. But I will post this, simply to set the record straight.
LLB did not solicit a response from me. I was informed of the article by another writer, and learned there was a discussion here. At that time I had been more than two weeks into a booktour, giving interviews every day, dealing with the media, and some reporters who smirk at the genre. Not all, not even the majority, but some.
I've been dealing with interviews, as Robin has, for a number of years.
Reading the article pushed every one of my buttons, and I stated my opinion.
I'm sorry if Robin was, or felt she was mis-used by the reporter. I would hope, if this is the case, that the next time out she'd more careful about giving any media source fuel for their agenda fire. If he made up the statements about addiction and alcoholism, it's deplorably unprofessional. If he spun comments made in this vein, those are the bumps on the road. A reporter can't spin what he doesn't have.
It's really easy to blurt out something you later regret, or didn't mean in precisely the way it's used. Interviews can be very difficult to control. But the comments made here by some that paint the media with horns and a tail seem to go too far in the other direction. If this is a legitimate paper, and I'm sure Robin wouldn't have agreed to an interview with one that wasn't, the paper can't just make up statements and attribute them to the speaker.
Robin's letter posted here to the paper indicates statements were taken out of context, or slanted. It's tough when this happens, and I have no doubt she sincerely regrets giving the reporter the ammo.
But it's remarkably narrow-minded to blame the reporter, the paper, the posters who reacted to the article, and LLB for this mess and not attribute any responsibility to the person interviewed.
The article appeared in the paper, and on the Net. It's public, therefore, the public can and will react and form opinions.
I know Robin, and she's a good person who takes her work and her faith seriously. It appears that she made a very big, very public mistake. People do.
Nora
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