But, she still doesn’t get it. Monday Fox & Friends co-anchor Gretchen Carlson interviewed Christian Lopez, the Yankee fan who gave Derek Jeter his 3000th hit home run ball back. Before she began, she declared, “Christian, in the [sic] full disclosure, I do have to tell you that my husband [Casey Close] happens to be Derek Jeter’s agent.”* Then, she inaptly added, “I just want to get that on the record ’cause sometimes people have a problem with that.”*
Apparently, Gretchen was referring in part to the author who first reported that she interviewed Jeter in a powder-puff F&F interview (December 2, 2009) without mentioning that her husband, Casey Close, was his agent. Obviously, she was including others, e.g., Huffington Post, Mediaite, and TVNewser who cited the Carpe Diem story as they, too, noted Carlson’s failure to disclose her conspicuous connection to Jeter. Not to mention, Howard Kurtz, host of CNN’s Reliable Sources, who acerbically remarked, “Somehow…Gretchen Carlson didn’t get around to mentioning that Jeter’s agent, the man who negotiated the shortstop’s $189 million contract is her husband. Now, I think it’s fine for her to interview Jeter…but how about leveling with the viewers?”
No, Gretchen, people do not “have a problem with” your being married to the agent of Derek Jeter. But, they do have a problem with your not disclosing that very fact when you do a story on Jeter. It just might color your perspective a bit. And, your viewers deserve to know.
In fact, if you had learned the real Jeter lesson, you might have added a caveat in your interview later with Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor and GOP presidential aspirant.** To wit, when you appeared to defend repeatedly Pawlenty’s opponent, Michele Bachmann, from his verbal attacks, you might have merely mentioned to viewers then Bachmann was once your nanny when you grew up in your hometown of Anoka, Minnesota.
Close is cool: Just “full disclosure,” Gretchen.
*Fox & Friends – 07/11/11 (@ 7:38 a.m. ET)
**Ibid at 8:13 a.m. ET.
Tags: Anoka, Carpe Diem, Casey Close, Christian Lopez, CNN, Derek Jeter, FNC, Fox & Friends, Fox and Friends, Fox News, Gretchen Carlson, Howard Kurtz, Huffington Post, MediaBistro, Mediaite, Michelle Bachmann, New York Yankees, Reliable Sources, Tim Pawlenty, TV Newser
Carpe Diem 
July 12, 2011 at 10:37 am
I didn’t see this interview…but in all the interviews I have seen Gretchen do with Rep. Bachmann there has been some reference to their shared background. Regular viewers of F&F are well aware of it and don’t need to be reminded every time.
July 12, 2011 at 10:02 pm
Ms. Carlson has on several occasions divulged her prior relationship with Rep. Bachmann. As for the Jeter interview, there was no pretence of it being anything other than a fluff conversation for its entertainment value – a common staple of morning talk shows including Fox & Friends. Most journalists apply some level of common sense to the full disclosure principle and I’m sure it was from that perspective Ms. Carlson’s “have a problem with” remark was meant. In other words, had this been a “hard news” interview due to some controversy involving Mr. Jeter, then she certainly would have felt that a “full disclosure” of her relationship needed to be invoked.
Now, this is not to say that there isn’t a problem – there is, and I lay the blame squarely on Fox News. Just a few years ago the segues between that programme’s “fun banter”, “entertainment talk”, and its “hard news” and “hard news interviews” segments were so clearly defined that even a first-time viewer had no trouble whatsoever discerning them. That show’s ratings successes has been partially at the expense of its adherence to journalistic principles.
July 14, 2011 at 3:48 am
Everything about this woman irritates me.