Jenkins Speaks

[Scott SoCal]

A more accurate location would be in the bathroom, on a spool, cut into 4"x4" perforated sheets...

Hopefully it's nice, soft virgin paper.

 

[Fortyninefourteen]

Hopefully it's nice, soft virgin paper.

Carta igenica....

 

[Merckx index]

The Washington Post defends Jenkins:

Jenkins has, however, written occasional columns about cycling and Armstrong. In the past 12 years, she has written 13 such columns, most of them in July every year, when the Tour de France takes place.

In every one, she either explained in the text or added in a note at the end that she wrote books with Armstrong, that she profited from them, that they are close friends and that, when it comes to Armstrong, she isn’t objective. As she wrote in a July 2003 column, “So you can’t say anything bad about him to me, I won’t hear it.”

Journalists should always disclose a possible conflict to their readers. Jenkins did every time.

Is that enough? Should a journalist be allowed to write about a subject that she admits she won't hear anything bad about? How naive is someone who thinks anyone is beyond any criticism?

Can you say that Jenkins was naive about Armstrong, loyal to a fault and part of the sometimes-worshipful industry that grew around his success? Perhaps. But here is her response to my question:

“I don’t think I’m naive about doping, quite the opposite. I simply don’t feel about it the way some people want me to, and I think that’s the source of their rage. I don’t see doping as a black and white issue; I see it as an extremely complicated moral, judicial, and philosophical one. And I arrived at those conclusions quite independent of Lance.

“I don’t condone what Lance did — I simply forgive it.”

She was naive about doping prior to 2007, though, during the period when she wrote the books. She herself has admitted this.

 

[86TDFWinner]

So she's basically forgiving Wonderboy for being a lying, pos, cheater? nice. She's even more delusional than I initially thought, though not surprising. I've never been a fan of her work, this confirms I don't care for her. It's obvious she's in love with Wonderboy. She's just sad and pathetic.

 

[Benotti69]

So she's basically forgiving Wonderboy for being a lying, pos, cheater? nice. She's even more delusional than I initially thought, though not surprising. I've never been a fan of her work, this confirms I don't care for her. It's obvious she's in love with Wonderboy. She's just sad and pathetic.

She's a paid liar.

 

[frenchfry]

She's a paid liar.

I don't think it is any more complicated than that.

 

[86TDFWinner]

I don't think it is any more complicated than that.

You're both right.

 

[Joachim]

Could she realistically have taken any other stance without ending up looking worse than she does now?

I guess the Armstrong cash cow has wandered out of her meadow. Wonder if she can empathise with Greg Lemond when he lost his bike business.