Why exclusives like the Liam Neeson interview are accompanied by opinion articles

Chastising individual journalists for supposed failings in articles that are only being considered in isolation entirely misses the wider point

Kuba Shand-Baptiste
Tuesday 12 February 2019 02:10 GMT
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When it comes to exclusive news stories, making sure we’ve covered our bases in terms of varied coverage is imperative here at The Independent. And it was no different when our US culture writer, Clémence Michallon, secured the extraordinary feature interview with Liam Neeson during his press tour promoting Cold Pursuit – which has now, unsurprisingly, become a box office flop.

Accompanying Michallon’s feature – in which Neeson told how a friend of his had been raped, apparently by a black man, and how he hoped to take revenge on any black person who happened to provoke him – was a straight news piece detailing the facts of what had been said during the interview with the Taken franchise star; and alongside that was an opinion piece written by me.

Given the shocking nature of Neeson’s words, it’s not surprising so many, especially black, people were outraged by his remarks. It’s been a trying time lately for marginalised groups (in this case, black people) in all corners of the world. I understand what it would’ve felt like as a reader to see such violent language nonchalantly delivered to a journalist, and then set out in a feature format that sought out the context in which to place Neeson’s words.

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