He wants to keep his private life private. I respect him in that aspect, BUT he should have been more careful. Sorry Dirk, people are going to try their hardest to find out who this TAYLOR is. Private life? NO MORE

Leave Dirk alone. DANG! Dirk is right. Private life should stay Private. It is none of our business what he does regarding his relationships he has. The media needs to get a life. Brett Shipp leave Dirk alone. You wouldnt like it if the media went after your family would you?

Hey, if the guy wants to date drug addicts and thieves let him. It is really not our place to judge. Remember we don't pay his salery.

Stay down Dirk!

Tiller,
Don't the fans pay his salary through tickets and merchandise, etc.?

Where do we draw the line for privacy for famous people? It doesn't make any difference whether they are entertainers (actors, actresses, singers, whatever), political figures or athletes. We have access to see them when they are performing in a movie, on stage, on a football field or on a basketball court; but, we, just like everyone else wants our privacy. Why should they not be deserving of the same? Right now, Dirk needs to focus as much as he can on the games before him to try and win and try to bring a championship to the Mavericks which is for the City of Dallas, why start with the stupid questions about this woman that is in his life? He has made it clear from some time ago, that his private life is private and his playing life is out there for the public and we, as well as the reporters, need to respect that. Dirk, hold your head up, you will make the right decisions in reference to this matter and I wish you the best and hope that the Mavericks will rise above it all. Right now, he needs his family and friends to be supportive of him to get him through this. Best of luck to Dirk and the Mavs!!!!

When did Brett Shipp start working for TMZ? Didn't Dirk answer his question three times?

It's kind of funny how the posts criticizing "your buddy" Brett Shipp for his lack of journalistic integrity keep magically disappearing, especially since he is relevant enough to be mentioned in your post. I didn't realize the type of freedom of the press WFAA shoots for is freedom of the press to crush any criticism aimed at it for its lack of integrity and general tabloid mentality. Bravo, Belo! Keep the hypocrisy train rolling!!

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Although I agree private life is private life, there is some call for trying to understand if this will effect his performance on the basketball court. Let Dale do the interview as a by-line, but shameful how WFAA lead the 10:00 PM news with it!!! I am embarrassed to be a WFAA viewer at this point.

Brett Shipp was acting like a tabloid reporter and he was called to the carpet for it. Perhaps his enablers (such as you, Aaron) should look for a little more accountability from him and yourselves. The line of questioning that Shipp pestered Dirk with appeared to prematurely end a question and answer session about the NBA playoffs.

He did the people who come here for coverage on the Mavericks playoffs a disservice by trading real reporting about the Mavs unexpectedly good season for sensationalism that (from looking at the comments section of your page) very few people are actually even interested in.

If the truth is inflammatory, then maybe it's a fire that needs to be started. Instead of being thin skinned about criticism, just do better instead...you can start by not sending "News 8 Investigators" (That's what you guys call him, right?) to a Q&A at a basketball shootaround.

Mike wants WFAA to do better,
Several things. First, You don't need to post under multiple names to try to show that more people agree with you. We know you also posted as Farty Snarkybutt.

About Shipp, if Dirk would have had other media availability he would have talked with him then, but Dirk was only available after practice and needless to say there are many unanswered questions. Basic questions. Second, Brett waited until all the basketball questions were answered. He didn't jump in at the beginning and run anyone off, Dirk even asked at the end if there were anymore basketball questions and no one had any, so there was no premature end to the session.

I'd love to talk with you more. I sent you an e-mail at the address you left, Mike/Farty Snarkybutt.

Nice try, Aaron. The reason I posted under multiple names and because I posted under the same name mutliple times and my comments stopped showing up. I was referring to Dominic, Tiller and Barbie. It was rather obviious regardless of the names, which posts were mine.

We disagree on whether Shipp caused the interview to be ended prematurely. The video is up the website. People can watch it and judge for themselves. To me it's obvious that Dirk couldn't wait to bounce as soon as Brett Shipp started harrassing him. By your own admission he's your buddy, so of course you are going to stick up for him. That's fine. Like I said, the video is right there.

Secondly, and I quote,"...needless to say there are many unanswered questions..."

The whole point I am making is that the unanswered questions you are referring to are TMZ tabloid fodder that isn't central to Dirk the professional basketball player or the Mavericks playoff chances. Brett Shipp's line of questioning and specifically his "why haven't you bailed her out of jail?" question is symptomatic of what "credible" journalism has sunk to in an effort to maintain viewership and advertising dollars. The only question that had a hint of relevance was "will this affect your focus for the playoffs?"

That question was answered. He said no. His teammates said it wouldn't. It is hypocrisy to chase sensational news stories that don't serve the public good under the guise of protecting the public's right to know. You are a public figure. If you go through a messy divorce, do we have the right to ask about the sordid details of the breakup? After all, it may affect your job as a blogger. Can you not see how this type of stuff reflects poorly on you guys? Can you really not see that?

Is Brett Shipp the only guy to ever pull a stunt like this? Of course not. It doesn't change the fact that the way he handled himself was deplorable and WFAA should expect better.

P.S. I will be happy to answer your emails. Please forward them to michaelroom101@yahoo.com. The email you sent it to I only posted because any post linked to michaelroom101@yahoo.com quit showing up on the message board.

Thanks again for your comments Mike.

I posted the rules of use because I want you to know that when you write inappropriate comments (for instance calling Brett a Nazi) theywill be deleted. That's why your comments weren't showing up, because they crossed the line.

Again, I was there for the entire media session with Dirk. The session went on for more than 18 minutes before Brett asked a single question. There were dozens of basketball questions asked and answered and to Dirk's credit he was willing to answer more basketball questions, as you can see by watching the video you mentioned, but no one had any more questions, or didn't ask any.

Brett is more than my friend. I have an enormous amount of respect for him and his work. Take a look at his body of work for a minute: The DPD fake drug scandal, state worker's comp, DISD grade changing, to name a few. His work is very long, distinguished and has been honored as such with a great many national awards for journalism.

Also, sometimes reporters have to ask questions to get answers. Otherwise we should just read off press releases.

It is naive to think that Dirk is just a basketball player. He is a public figure by the very nature that he makes his living in the public realm.

Frankly, I don't think anyone really cares about my personal life, mostly because I'm not the same type of public figure Dirk is, or not nearly the same level, but I do accept that is part of my job. No one forces me to do this line of work, just as no one forces Dirk to be a basketball player. I am open to criticisms, as you are free to do and I try to respond to reasonable things. But ugly personal attack are no fair to anyone.

I wish we didn't have to report on these things.

For us, part of the news decision making process includes that this is a local story, involving an athlete who has a great reputation, who is in the middle of a key playoff series, who is one of the most recognizable personalities in the area, in addition to the true bizarre nature it. Those are all part of what goes in to the editorial process. If this was about the backup point guard on the Cleveland Cavaliers it certainly wouldn’t be a story here. Heck if it were a backup on the Mavs it would likely be a brief mention, if that.

In journalism some of the major things that guide coverage are proximity, prominence and uniqueness and we have all of them here.

Again, I welcome your comments, so long as they are appropriate.

So a guy that broke the DPD fake drug scandal, state worker's comp, DISD grade changing, to name a few is covering the same shootaround that the beat writers cover? Respect him for all those stories, but don't respect him for this one.

Also understand Shipp doesn't have enough goodwill collateral with a lot of readers to make this an easy pill to swallow and you vouching for him doesn't change that. If readers don't trust or like a reporter, what is his value after that trust is broken? If a reporter is only perceived as a sensationalist bulldog, his credibility is out the window. Ask Geraldo.

If the press conference was 18 minutes long, you guys didn't do yourselves any favors truncating the clip to show less than 30 seconds of Shipp going after Dirk and Dirk bolting.

If you wish you didn't have to report on this, and every comment on this board wishes they didn't have to see it, then was was it a top story on this website? I understand you as a journalism institution being inclined to mention it in the paper, but to give it the treatement it has received on this site is nothing close to real journalism. I could change a few names and draw on some crude body parts and be reading a Perez Hilton post. Is that really what you guys aspire to be?

Regarding your editorial process:

Proximity - Fair enough

Prominence - This woman could have died two weeks ago in a car crash and wouldn't have made the news. This is a case of third party prominence at best...a case of dirt by association. A favorite of the TMZs of the world.

Uniqueness - Some lady got picked up on warrants...one of the least unique things in law enforcement. It just so happens that there are reports from those always esteemed unnamed sources that she is Dirk's fiance or girlfriend or baby mama in waiting...again, see my point on third party prominence.

This is the last thing I am going to write about this. We aren't changing each others minds. WFAA took not a non-story, but a microscopic story at best and blew it up to inflate their own ratings and page views. They trotted out their highly esteemed investigative reporter to "go get the tough answers" and made Shipp and WFAA look like self aggrandizing, morally superior nut jobs (again the "why haven't you bailed her out of jail?" question really steamed me).

It stinks that our media driven culture of instant gratification has so many people including yourselves brainwashed into believing that anyone in the public view loses their right to privacy. It didn't used to be that way and shouldn't be today. Somebody needs to say enough is enough.

Relationship are good when good and bad when bad. Most of us have been there. Why do you assume he know nothing of her past yet choose to be with her anyway? why because of the media sources? get real have a little compassion for them both i know they are suffering greatly.