Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda

I should have known something wasn’t quite right yesterday when I tried the link to the Los Angeles Times Chat board, where Michael Hiltzik answered questions earlier today. (For a transcript of the chat put together by ORG, go here. Or to view the full transcript at the LA Times, go here.) But, instead, I thought that nasty little “Unable To Connect” window appeared because the chat wasn’t actually in progress yesterday. Silly me.

Turns out, the firewall at my office blocks access to chat rooms. Who’d’a thunk? So when I tried to log in today, guess what happened? Nothing. Same error. Over and over and over again. (I don’t give up too easily.)

If I would have realized that the problem was with the firewall, I could have gone somewhere else to access the chat session. Oh well, lesson learned.

Since I didn’t get in, the questions I had in mind to ask didn’t get asked (although perhaps variants of those questions were asked by those who attended the chat). I did have the foresight to email my questions to Hiltzik, and though he didn’t see them during the chat, he was kind enough to send me his replies.

To set the stage: Sometimes, when a reporter starts working on an article (or series of articles) he may already have an angle in mind. Sometimes not. So in my first set of questions, I was looking to find out what Hiltzik’s initial angle on the Landis story was.

And now, without further ado, are the questions I would have asked during the chat, had a certain firewall not gotten in the way:

Rant: If I may, I’d like to ask several related questions. In researching and writing the stories on the Landis case, did you start with a particular point of view? During the course of your research and reporting on this story, did that point of view change? And finally, what thing or things that you’ve learned as a result of your research came as the biggest surprise to you?

Hiltzik: My interest in the anti-doping system started when I saw Landis’s initial press conference this summer (with his Spanish attorneys), and simply asked myself a journalistic question: If he wants to prove his innocence, what’s the procedure? I candidly didn’t know.

So I started looking into it with no predisposition one way or another. Obviously, once you start looking at cases and procedures, you discover pretty quickly that they don’t conform to our customary views on presumption of innocence, evidentiary standards, etc. The biggest surprise, initially, was the discovery that so much of the testing was not actually objective or empirical–that is, these weren’t tests that produced a beaker of something that turned green for “yes” or red for “no,” but rather produced images that some technician had to interpret. I don’t think most of the public realizes that, either.

Rant: Regarding the arbitration panel and their yet-to-be-announced ruling on whether USADA can have Landis’ other B samples tested: Based on what your sources have told you and what you know, how do you anticipate the panel will rule? And how do you think that will affect the outcome of the case?

Hiltzik: My sources really have no idea. As I mentioned during the chat, this is a novel case and a novel question for the arbs to consider.

Judging Floyd, A New T(B)V Series

Over at Trust But Verify is part 1 of a series called “Judging Floyd.” In the first installment, the Hon. William Hue and David Brower go over the case up to the point where Landis released the lab documentation pack on the Internet for all to see. The next installment promises to cover the selection of the arbitrators and the discovery process. If you’re new to following the Landis case, or if you want to provide someone with a good digest of how things have become what they’ve become, check out their article. It’s an excellent primer on the Landis case.

Want To See Floyd In Chicago? There’s Still Time To Sign Up

Do you live within driving distance of Chicago? (And by that I mean within a couple of hundred miles.) Are you interested in the Landis case? Well, there’s still time to sign up for this Saturday’s townhall meeting with Floyd Landis at The Wilmette Theatre in Wilmette, Illinois. Among the attractions will be a fund-raising auction, an autograph-signing session, a presentation of the “Wiki Defense” slide show by Dr. Arnie Baker, as well as a question-and-answer session.

This is your chance to hear the other side of the story, not often told in the mainstream media. Rant will be there. Will you?