In the midst of a media fiasco with the grand jury decision in his case swiftly approaching, Darren Wilson is planning interviews in the interim
Such meetings are common when anchors are fighting over “gets.” CNN’s Brian Stelter says the purpose is to “establish trust and comfort,” and his sources say the journalists did most of the talking in their meetings with Wilson.
CNN’s Brian Stelter reported on Sunday that Wilson has found something worth risking his privacy over: He’s been secretly meeting with several high-profile TV anchors, including Matt Lauer, George Stephanopoulos, Scott Pelley, Anderson Cooper, and Don Lemon, to determine which one will get an exclusive interview.
People were irked that members of the media know where Wilson is hiding out, and accused them of conspiring to protect Wilson.
Both Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper confirmed via Twitter that they had met with Darren Wilson.
“For the record, I met briefly with Darren Wilson a few days ago to see if he wanted to do an interview with me. That’s standard procedure,” Anderson Cooper tweeted.
Cooper allegedly decided to tweet about the Darren Wilson meeting because some online commentators who had read reports about the secret meetings with TV anchors suggested that in meeting with the Ferguson police officer, the news anchors were revealing “media bias” in the Michael Brown shooting case.
Anderson Cooper also noted that he has repeatedly interviewed Mike Brown’s family and their attorneys. “I’d also like to interview the grand jury. There is no conspiracy here. Reporters want to interview people and sometimes you have to meet them first,” Cooper added.
Darren Wilson has reportedly decided against doing an interview on CNN with Cooper.
Don Lemon also tweeted that meeting privately with Darren Wilson was not “out of the ordinary” in the TV news realm.
“We’ve interviewed the Brown family, Dorian Johnson, and all the witnesses. Of course we’d want to interview Wilson,” Lemon added.
It’s unclear if Wilson accepted any of the interview offers, but 60 Minutes is said to be in “especially hot pursuit.” It’s also possible that plans for his TV debut will be derailed by an indictment from the grand jury, but a police union official said the officer doesn’t expect to see criminal charges.
-Tamara El (@_SheWise_)
