I have had a personal issue with those people in Broadcast and Cable who purport to be "Journalists," but that is another story.
Katie Couric did a "kind and gentle" interview Monday with Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin. McCain, having a little boy snit, denounced "gotcha journalism" while he defended his running mate concerning a portion of the Palin interview that aired on the CBS Evening News.
I will take a moment and translate what Senator McCain meant when he complained about the Couric interview.
Most politicians including McCain would like to submit a list of pre interview questions to a reporter that they would like to respond to. Of course no follow up questions would be allowed.
Gotcha journalism refers to any question asked that they do not wish to answer. This is a very simple problem. Do not ask anything that might in any way call for an answer that they would rather not give.
As a rule, gotcha journalism refers to methods and techniques of interviewing that are designed to entrap the interviewee into making statements which are damaging or discreditable to them.
Senator McCain might like to know that the intent of gotcha journalism is premeditated and primarily used to discredit the interviewee by portraying them as unqualified. There is a deliberate attempt to mislead the person being interviewed. Katie Couric did not do this. She has been kind and gentle during her Palin interviews.
"Gotcha stuff" is as a rule done by finding footage of contradictory statements given by a speaker or interviewee. Tim Russert specialized in doing this on Meet the Press.
When Couric asked Palin about the statement she made over the weekend that the U.S. should launch attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan to "...stop the terrorists from coming any further in..."
Couric asked, "So, Gov. Palin, are you two [she and McCain] on the same page?"
"...We will do what we have to do to secure the United Sates and her allies," Palin said. Couric replied, "Is that something you shouldn't say out loud, Sen. McCain?"
"Of course not," McCain apparently annoyed said, "But look, I understand this day and age gotcha journalism... Grab a phrase. Gov. Palin and I agree that you don't announce that you're going to attack another country."
Couric, returning to Palin asked, "Are you sorry you said it?"
"Wait a minute," McCain interrupted, "Before you say is she sorry she said it, this was a gotcha sound bite that..."
"It wasn't a gotcha," Couric insisted. "She was talking to a voter."
"No, she was in a conversation with a group of people talking back and forth, and I'll let Gov. Palin speak for herself."
Couric asked palin what she learned "from that experience." The candidate replied, "That this is all about gotcha journalism...."
Couric asked, "Gov. Palin, since our last interview, you have gotten a lot of flak. Some Republicans have said you are not prepared; you're not ready for prime time... And I'm curious to hear your reaction."
"Well, not only am I ready, but willing and able to serve as vice president with Senator McCain if Americans so bless us and privilege us with the opportunity of serving them -- ready with my executive experience as a city mayor and manager, as a governor, as a commissioner, a regulator of oil and gas..."
McCain stepped in to defend his running mate. He resurrected Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, and of course he made a gigantic irrelevant comparison of these past Presidents to Palin.
Those titans of journalistic integrity at Fox News have of course taken up the cause of McCain and Palin to protect them from "gotcha journalism."
And now I will move on to the Vice Presidential debate.
1. Senator Biden will behave like Senator Biden and I only hope he can be succinct.
2. Governor Palin will answer questions with platitudes and generalities that as a rule will have nothing to do with the questions that have been asked.
Where is David Frost when we need him? This quote has nothing whatsoever to do with what I have written, but I have been anxious to use it somewhere. "The one function TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were."
Norman Horowitz