Has the local media ever approached you for a comment? What did you do?

 

  Just days prior to the jury reaching the verdict in the OJ Simpson double-murder trial, I was approached by a news crew for a local television station, they were doing a man-on-the-street interview, it was downtown San Diego early in the morning as people were going to work. I was wearing a business suit and carrying a briefcase, the reporter almost appeared to have an aneurysm trying to run across the street to get to me (meaning that I believe he saw what he thought would be someone who would say what he expected to hear). As the cameraman and the sound technician caught up to us, the reporter asked me if I consented being on the air to take a question about the upcoming verdict. I agreed, then when the camera was rolling, and because it’s been many years, I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was immediately obvious to me that it was asked in a biased way to get answers divided down racial lines. I didn’t take the bait, however, which frustrated the reporter. He kept rewording his agenda, trying to pinpoint me into saying that I thought Simpson should be acquitted, which I did not say. I said something about the difference between the general public’s knowledge of all the evidence and testimony presented in the case and the jury’s knowledge of all the evidence and testimony presented in the case made it impossible for anyone outside of the deliberating room to predict the outcome, regardless of ethnically-based opinions . . .
He pressed one more time, “Do you think Simpson SHOULD be acquitted?” I answered, “If that’s the direction that the evidence and testimony lead the jury, not public opinion.” Clearly exasperated, he ended the interview. 

  That night when I watched the newscast, sure enough, the only interviews that aired were the ones of Black people who were strongly in favor of Simpson and hoping for acquittal, and Caucasians who were strongly against Simpson and hoping for a guilty verdict. Of course, my interview did not see air. The news anchor stated (or read) that the street reporting was a sampling of anticipated reactions that blah, blah, blah, blah, blah . . .
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Coming out of a book store, I was approached byy a local media crew. The reporter asked me about the possible upcoming teachers' strike. Since I was still teaching, I was hard pressed for an answer. I told her I would not strike. I can't remember if it was aired.

We had an old fashioned axe murder in our town. A pretty big deal at the time. It was actually as grisly as any horror movie. The victim was someone that my elderly mother knew and spoke highly of. When the man was murdered, my mother was quite distraught. One evening in a supermarket parking lot, I was approached by a reporter holding microphone with a camera man. She stepped up and asked me if I cared to comment on the ongoing investigation. Except for my mom's distress, I couldn't think of anything relating to the topic so I declined speaking on camera. That's the only incident that I can recall.

We are all reminded of this sad piece of our history as the convicted axe murderer is currently seeking an appeal, so his face is back in the news. He's still claiming to be innocent (totally ignoring his DNA on a toll road ticket for the appropriate date and time). A reporter even went to the prison to do an interview with him, which aired several days ago. I did not watch it.

I was vacationing in Timisoara, Romania, visiting two of my friends there.  We attended a music festival where some reporters and cameramen approached me to ask if I was enjoying the festival and to get my opinion on the music.

No one ever has but my default response would be "no comment."

Yes.  In elementary school the community access channel did a report on our school carnival.  They asked me what I thought of our school carnival and I said it was dumb and boring because it was just watching the teachers have fun.  I didn’t make it onto TV that day.

I'm not a talker in the traditional sense.