Was Obama Advisor Felled by Act of Journalistic Malpractice?

I just got a call from Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz so I guess this is a real issue.

Media blogs are buzzing a bit over some folks implication that Samantha Power, a well-known foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama, wound up resigning today over a comment which journalists should not have printed.

I've also heard a little discussion about this on other journalism email listservs. The way the story has been reported so far, Powers tried to take back her already infamous quote about Hillary Clinton seconds after she said it. "She is a monster, too - that is off the record - she is stooping to anything," the Scotsman quoted her as saying. Before that, she had said ""We f***** up in Ohio...In Ohio, they are obsessed and Hillary is going to town on it, because she knows Ohio's the only place they can win."

I know the whole issue of on or off-the-record comments is complex for non-journalists. As a reporter, I try to be explicit with sources when a conversation is on or off the record -- off the record comments are usually for my ears only, unless the source agrees I can tell others, usually without their names attached. I rarely allow people to take back important things they've said on the record. If I'm talking to someone who is not particularly media-savvy, I may not be so didactic about rules.

But Power is hardly that. She's a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who has appeared on the Daily Show and posed for a pictorial in Men's Vogue. We're at a point in the campaign where the world's media is on full-fledged "gaffe mode" -- looking for the slightest verbal slip-up by any person connected to either candidate in a tight race. If anyone should know how to conduct herself around a reporter she doesn't know in a situation like this, it should be Power.

The bottom line, is that off the record conversations occur after both the source and reporter have agreed -- hardly something you can do when the source throws in the request after they've already said something. If I had been that reporter for the Scotsman, I would have printed Power's comments, too -- and felt bad for her when the inevitable forced resignation went down.

Read more coverage and reaction to Samantha Power's resignation

Comments

[UNCLEJOE]

Obama needs about 50 million just to counter this negative Clinton Strategy; The Hillary Republicans want to accomplish two goals: 1) Have Obama waste his money defending himself against this negative Hillary/Rovian strategy, and divert him from spending his money on political issue where Obama is the stronger by far;

2) Force Obama to go Negative where his aura, charisma of a clean cut man of integrity who plays the game fairly is diminished, and when he goes negative the Hillary Rovian experts on negativisms will bury him in a the negative battle.

Yes, Obama should not let a false characterization of himself go unanswered immediately, but he needs stay focused on his winning strategy of hope, inspiring his audience to chant "We Can" something that Hillary is incapable of doing. And Obama has been winning crowds at his campaign appearance several times larger than either Hillary or Bill. Hillary's husband drew a crowd of 2,000 in his Last Texas campaign appearance while Obama that same week drew a crowd of around 7,000.

Hillary has the financial backing od Mogul Murdock and `Warren E. Buffett, the richest man in America who owns 70 corporations, plus the Republican party. And they, Murdock and Buffett stand to loose billions if Obama becomes the U.S. President.

What should be a Slam Dunk win for the American People, Hillay Rovian's attempt to destroy Obama now put's Obama's campaign at a financial disadvantage because a preponderance of Americans get their political news from the MSM and TV's controlled by Mudock and the Bush follower.
If every Obama faithful would donate $20, or more to Obamas's campaign, Obama could have that extra $50 million needed to counteract the Hillary Rovian commercials on TV. Or we lose the nomination for Obama who would easily win the General Election judging by the massive crowds that attend his appearances compared to Hillary Rovians embarrassing smal crowds. And the Rfepublicans know only to well by Obama's popularity that he will win the GE if he is the Democratic Candidate. It's a choice between McCain and Obama; case between WAR or PEACE.

Donate $20, you'll never miss it but it could help us win because, "WE CAN".

[mrcontinental]

Reporters have given the entire Bush administration a free pass for seven years and now they want to claim they have so type of integrity. If it were me I would never talk to them. They gave up being the fourth estate year ago and only report what their masters tell them to now anyway.

[BongWater]

Maybe the Obama camp should have used the word monster where it really made sense. To describe the Bush Cheney regime and all of its criminal deeds.

Bush is a monster who is a disgrace to our nation. He should be impeached, and Obama should be leading the charge. This country is in serious trouble.

[caliguy]

It is clear from the quote that Samantha Powers had clear intention. She did not express regret at her comment. She inserted a statement about being off the record in the middle of statement, and continued with her characterization. The reporter was under no obligation to keep the statement off the record. An agreement to have an off-the-record conversation should be honored. In the absence of a clear agreement, the person being interviewed should not expect to be able to retract the statements. The arguments on both sides regarding the journalistic ethics of printing the statement, however, seem to miss the underlying point: the practice by the media of allowing off-the-record conversations creates a potential conflict of interest with their duty to report the facts. The practice is wide-spread and is usually justified as necessary to obtain information from sources who would otherwise not come forward, but it also leads to cozy relationships at the expense of journalistic integrity.

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

If anyone believes that she was forced to resign over the "monster" word, they are delusional. She was forced to resign because she "leaked" to the press that the things Obama are saying about removing our troops from the Middle East are campaign rhetoric. What he says as a candidate is not what he intends to do once/if he is in office. In other words, he's just like every other politician. Will say what the people want to hear to get elected, then develop a case of amnesia once he is safe for four years.

[gatorgreenwell5]

I doubt that any of you have seen Power's whacko statements about occupying palestine against the will of Israel and the palestinians. Obama was lucky she resigned. Witness:
Power made her most problematic statement in 2002, in an interview she gave at Berkeley. The interviewer asked her this question:
Let me give you a thought experiment here, and it is the following: without addressing the Palestine-Israel problem, let"s say you were an advisor to the President of the United States, how would you respond to current events there? Would you advise him to put a structure in place to monitor that situation, at least if one party or another [starts] looking like they might be moving toward genocide?
Power gave an astonishing answer:
What we don"t need is some kind of early warning mechanism there, what we need is a willingness to put something on the line in helping the situation. Putting something on the line might mean alienating a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial import; it may more crucially mean sacrificing"or investing, I think, more than sacrificing"billions of dollars, not in servicing Israel"s military, but actually investing in the new state of Palestine, in investing the billions of dollars it would probably take, also, to support what will have to be a mammoth protection force, not of the old Rwanda kind, but a meaningful military presence. Because it seems to me at this stage (and this is true of actual genocides as well, and not just major human rights abuses, which were seen there), you have to go in as if you"re serious, you have to put something on the line.

Unfortunately, imposition of a solution on unwilling parties is dreadful.
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people2/Power/power-con5.html

[SeekerOne]

As an Obama supporter, I have to say that Power did not represent him well in that interview. I think she should've resigned, otherwise it would've become another major distraction before two elections.

With regard to journalistic integrity...I know that The Scotsman is a self-proclaimed conservative publication. I wonder how much this played a role in the reporter's decision.

Also, many of you here are stating that it is a common practice to publish whatever is said "on the record," even if the interviewee disclaims the remark during the interview. I don't think I've ever, ever read an article or heard a news report where the person being interviewed said "that's off the record," and yet, then it wasn't.

[Stillman]

Every time one of these non-issue "issues" comes up, I'd encourage everyone to please ask yourself, "What does this have to do with the CRUCIAL issues our country is facing today? What does someone thinking that Hillary Clinton is a monster have to do with ending a war that is costing us multi-TRILLIONS of dollars. What does it have to do with fixing a broken health care system? With ending corporate welfare that is bleeding our people dry? With the incarceration of over 1 million of our people? With an economic catastrophe the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetimes?

Politics as usual NEVER addresses the core issues we're facing. We are heading into the ice bergs and McCain, Obama and Clinton are all arguing over who gets to have the best seat to watch the ship go down.

[BigBen]

The problem with the Obama team is saying one thing in public and another in private. Power said Hillary was a monster. her is what she said after leaving the Obama team.
"Last Monday I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor and purpose of the Obama campaign.

"These comments do not reflect my feelings about Senator Clinton, whose leadership and public service I have long admired. I should not have made these comments and I deeply regret them. It is wrong for anyone to pursue this campaign in such negative and personal terms," she added.

Ms Power was in Ireland and Britain to promote her new book on Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN Human Rights Commissioner who was killed in a suicide bomb blast in Baghdad.

[clevelandchick]

But Hillary IS a monster. What kind of Democrat would put out a "Vote For Me or Die" right out of the Neocon playbook? I agree. Obama should just get some balls and call her out for what she is... a Neocon.

[RButler]

But Obama's middle name IS Hussein. But, Obama DID use drugs. But, Obama DID purchase his home with assistance from a slumlord. But, but, but..........

[suntzu]

I am not a journalist, which is a good thing, because I can look at this issue as an ordinary person, not someone who makes a living interviewing people. But to maintain that being on-or-off-the-record is like some kind of on-off switch and that there never can be a middle ground that requires judgment on the part of the journalist is stupid and ridiculous. In this case Power clearly regretted her remark instantly and requested that her remark be considered off the record. As such Peev the reporter should have honored the request. Instead she tries to wiggle out of it by citing the so-called British rule that an interview is either on or off the record from the beginning, and there is no middle ground. The more likely truth is that Peev got greedy and wanted nothing more than a chance to get a scoop on the "monster" story. The idea that she could be doing tremendous hard to Power meant little, even if it entered her mind.

Peev's act may have gotten her what she wanted -- a scoop and becoming famous overnight -- but she may cast the future of her career in grave doubt. Who the heck of any substance is going to want to be interviewed by her from here on?

[MsWrite]

That fact that you're not a journalist is clear from your post. For those of us in the profession, the ground rules are set up before the interview begins. IF a person is unwise enough to make a remark they regret, then so be it. That's the interviewee's problem...the interviewer/journalist is in no way obliged to allow the subject of the interview to retract statements uttered on the record. That's not something particular to the U.K. it is the standard of every well trained journalist.
Having attended Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, I can tell you that they teach their students to follow that rule.

The only thing Peev risked in publishing those remarks was being cut-off by the Obama campaign who could (would?) refuse to grant further interviews with their staffers to Peev or other reporters at "The Scotsman."

Powers should have none better and not have allowed herself to speak so imprudently.

[clevelandchick]

Your post implies you are a journalist ("For those of us in the profession") so you posted:

"Powers should have none better and not have allowed herself to speak so imprudently"

She should have "none" better? That's not a mispelling, that's a completely wrong use of a word. And you are "in the profession"? Yeah, right and I'm Katrina vanden Heuvel.

[RButler]

Why did Powers offer her opinion of Hillary to the interviewer off-camera anyway? What was the point?

[vancouverobserver]

I watched the NAFTA atuff play out here in Canada. I know some pundits are claiming Power and Goolsbee's comments show voters the classic "politicians say one thing, will do another," but isn't the issue more about inexperience?

Power's comments, the way Obama and his campaign handled NAFTA, does this just perpetuate the rookie notion of Obama's candidacy?

Obama's experienced campaign hands like Axelrod appear to be doing a great job, but when it comes to the policy side, what Obama would do if elected, the rookies are making too many mistakes.

[ntmessage]

amen.

[cinecity]

12 of the last 15. Clinton could use some inexperience like that.

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

Mega-churches have huge congregations that will give their last penny to their very charismatic preachers, too. They're called "Snake Oil" salesman. There are lots of gullible people in this world.

[cinecity]

So, words don't matter unless they're mild epithets aimed at Clinton?

Monster, really? That's so upsetting someone had to lose her job over it, take up space and time apologizing for it, thus instigating further debate? I swear, we're about as thick-skinned as third graders.

[maggipost]

It is clear from many of the posts that most people have not read the actual story. It is not just that she called Sen Clinton a "monster" but that she then went on and said "Ergh....I cannot even look at her." A recent online article in New York Magazine stated that most reporters had heard similar comments from Obama supporters for months and chosen -- reporter's discretion -- not to print them.
As for "off the record" -- I do not know what today's standards are, but when I practiced journalism the entirety of an interview was either on the record of off the record ... not selective. Of course, in the US, there are undoubtedly journalists whose discretion is tempered by their personal feelings toward the candidate. One would hardly expect the foreign press to act in the same manner.

[Nic]

Journalistic Malpractice? WTF is THAT? It was Malpractice of her mouth.

[Beowoof]

Power just expressed herself naturally. Many of expressed ourselves to our friends in much worse fashion without apology. It was just the opposite of the cold and calculating Hillary. Yes, Hillary's friends like her, but soon we'll see many who have supported her that just can't take this anymore who feel the same as Power.

[AnninCA]

Good explanation of how it works. Thanks.

[Thorwald]

This is absurd. This is news? Of course not. What's happening in Iraq is news. A recruiting station in times square blew up... this is news. The hype of these two camps will indeed fizzle out and substance will prevail. Only a few weeks away from that trend...

[Rog49Thomas]

I can't remember an election that was fought on substance and not sound bites, slogans, and catch phrases all designed to fill empty heads in our electorate.