Media Decoder Blog: Sports Illustrated Lands New Armstrong Interview

4:17 p.m. | Updated Lance Armstrong thought about bypassing the media and making a confessional video for the Web that would have detailed his substance abuse and included an apology to his fans. But instead he sat down with Oprah Winfrey, and he doesn’t regret the choice, Mr. Armstrong told a writer for Sports Illustrated in a column that was published online on Tuesday.

Mr. Armstrong spoke to the writer, Michael McCann, at length last month, but only on the condition that he not be quoted directly. Mr. McCann, a sports law expert, is a part-time legal analyst and writer for the magazine and its Web site.

His column is a summation of his conversation with Mr. Armstrong, including the fact that Mr. Armstrong almost sat down with Tom Brokaw, the former “NBC Nightly News” anchor, instead of Ms. Winfrey. Mr. Brokaw is now a special correspondent for NBC News.

“He had also weighed the possibility of producing a four- to five-minute video that would have been available on his official Web site, as well as YouTube, Facebook and other sites,” Mr. McCann wrote. The video would have allowed Mr. Armstrong to look straight into the camera and apologize — and would have allowed him to avoid Ms. Winfrey’s questions.

“Ultimately he concluded that a conversation would be a more natural vehicle than a scripted speech, and the choice was between Winfrey and Brokaw,” Mr. McCann added.

Sports Illustrated billed the interview as Mr. Armstrong’s second, since Ms. Winfrey’s interview was televised six weeks ago. It came about rather serendipitously, after Mr. McCann noticed that Mr. Armstrong had started following him on Twitter. Mr. McCann struck up a conversation with Mr. Armstrong via Twitter’s direct message feature, and eventually suggested that the two men meet. Mr. Armstrong invited him to his home in Austin, Tex.

The ensuing meeting took place on Feb. 27. There were no restrictions placed on it, other than the no-direct-quotations rule. Mr. McCann said Mr. Armstrong “displayed a range of emotions, from conviction to sorrow.”

Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/sports-illustrated-lands-new-armstrong-interview/?partner=rss&emc=rss