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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Media / Election 2008 What Exactly Is Gotcha Journalism?

Posted by Matt Davis on Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 5:21 PM

Wikipedia says the term refers "to methods of interviewing which are designed to entrap the interviewee into making statements which are damaging or discreditable to their character, integrity or repute." In other words, to asking well-researched, incisive or pointed questions. Right? Granted, there's a little more to it, including the selective editing of footage for "propaganda purposes," (personally I like to think of that as "making a few cuts," but I'm not interviewing VP candidates on network TV) plus, there's an element of bad taste, evoking this 1982 Sun headline, commemorating the British destruction of an Argentinian gunboat during the Falklands war:

gotcha.jpg

Makes you wince, doesn't it. Now. Here in the Mercury's newsroom, we've been watching with interest over the past few days as the McCain/Palin campaign has stepped up its accusations of gotcha'ing against the press. To begin with, McCain and Palin seemed to be aiming their allegations against the media in general. But yesterday, Palin responded specifically to a conservative radio talk show host's question about her interviews by Katie Couric and Charles Gibson of CBS and ABC respectively, with allegations of, not "gotcha'ing" per se, but something about "ethics." Against CBS and ABC.

"I have a degree in journalism...so it surprises me that so much has changed since I received my education in journalistic ethics all those years ago," she said.

Well, in a nice piece of what may well qualify as gotcha journalism, or perhaps, simply following up on a fatuous statement made by a prig [steadies himself], Portfolio blogger Jeff Bercovici called up the ethics professor at Palin's former journalism school in Idaho, and asked him whether his school's most famous former student has a firm grasp of journalistic ethics. Or...not.

"I don't think they asked any 'gotcha' questions," he says of Couric and Gibson. "I don't think a question about which it turns out she doesn't know much is a 'gotcha' question."

So, there we have it. Questions like the following, which has just begun appearing, aren't "gotcha" questions. They're fair questions, asked of a monster. End of story.

Couric asked the same question of Biden, incidentally. And he said this: "You know, I'm the guy who wrote the Violence Against Women act. And I said that every woman in America if they are beaten and abused by a man should be able to take that person to court. Meaning you should be able to go to federal court and sue in federal court the man who abused you if you can prove that abuse. But they said no that a woman, there's no federal jurisdiction and I held, they acknowledged, I held about 1,000 hours of hearings proving that there's an effect in interstate commerce. Women who are abused and beaten and beaten are women who are not able to be in the work force. And the Supreme Court said there is an impact on commerce but this is federalizing a private crime and we're not going to allow it. I think the Supreme Court was wrong about that decision."

See that?! He not only answered the question, but stuck up for vulnerable women. Into. The. Bargain. Perhaps gotcha journalism is simply journalism directed at those who deserve it.

 

Comments (3) RSS

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1
"Wikipedia says the term refers "to methods of interviewing which are designed to entrap the interviewee into making statements which are damaging or discreditable to their character, integrity or repute." In other words, to asking well-researched, incisive or pointed questions. Right?"

Actually, wrong. Although your attempt at "[this thing]=[that totally unrelated thing], really, please don't apply logic to my non-argument!" shows that you have a fine grasp of some of crap-journalism's tropes.
Posted by A cat on October 1, 2008 at 5:41 PM · Report
2
Are you telling me that Palin had been to Idaho prior to being tapped by McCain? I thought she'd never left Alaska before. But then . . . Idaho's pretty much the same thing.
Posted by alan cordle on October 1, 2008 at 8:21 PM · Report
3
Idaho: Alaska's Florida.
Posted by Earnest "Nex" Cavalli on October 2, 2008 at 12:45 AM · Report

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