There's not a huge amount of administrative news about figure skating that's routinely covered in the mainstream national news media historically. There are local news outlets that increasingly do feature articles or broadcast television news clips about local rinks, skaters, coaches and officials. Or when a particular city is hosting U.S. Nationals, the local media for that venue increase their coverage.
Figure skating should be more deeply and widely covered IMHO, as there are a multitude of interesting stories and personalities, as well as crucial issues involving the sport that go begging for better and more effective coverage. In general, figure skating is thought of by the main stream news media as an 'Olympic' sport, and so stories tend to be ratcheted up in local and national newspapers every four-year Olympic cycle. Or when there is some 'sensational' scandal to report on in connection with figure skating, Brennan is always 'Christy on the Spot.'
Too bad Brennan wasn't paying a lot of close investigative attention to the surfacing reports of sexual harassment and abuse in the sport of figure skating in the 1990s. Had she been a persistent nose hound digging deeper back then, maybe she could have lit a fuse under USFS to pay more attention instead of them looking the other way and burying their heads in the sand. The 1990s was a time when paying close attention to the hidden problems might have led to better guidelines, communication, awareness, and prevention of some of the ongoing abuse situations that festered and only got worse through the years. Perhaps Brennan was too busy doing research for her follow-up book on the skating scene in those years after her first success writing about events and personalities in the era of the Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski rivalry.
I believe Brennan is a good journalist, likely with what she feels are good intentions for the most part. But without fail, her stylistic approach to reporting always borders on sensationalist and gotcha. Even in her general commentary about the sport, I've found her to be prone to highlighting issues in a way that often paints things exaggeratedly and OTT, rather than thoughtfully and informatively. Of course, it's important to highlight matters that are urgent and sensitive. But her approach IMO often confuses issues and raises more questions than her style of reporting has ever provided substantial answers or beneficial understanding. I recall Brennan asking the former U.S. figure skating president a question about issues surrounding the Russian drug scandal, but her question was tangential to what that press conference was about, in addition to her approach being one of pushing buttons in a way that put the person being questioned on the spot, with 'gotcha' effect.
I realize that this approach is utilized by a number of journalists in order to have enough fodder to write about or to elicit responses that they can then build an attention-grabbing story around. But it's not my favorite style of journalism and its long-term effects I do not think are helpful or productive.
