Re: Hard Questions Are Not Gotcha Questions

serenebabe <serenebabe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 2008-10-01 20:16:29 -0400, Towse <self@xxxxxxxxx> said:

"Hard Questions Are Not Gotcha Questions" = Kelly McBride, Poynter Online.

[...]

"I want to say something that might seem obvious, but I have to say it,
out loud. Hard questions are not gotcha journalism. Pressing the
potential vice president for details that might reveal the depth of her
knowledge on the economy or foreign policy is not unethical. If
anything, it is the exact opposite of unethical.

"This is a job interview. And since most voters don't get the chance to
talk to the people running for the highest offices of this country,
journalists step in and do that job. If I'm interviewing you to build
an addition on my house, I'm going to ask you some detailed questions,
like how you'd handle the electrical wiring or comply with the
neighborhood zoning code. I'm going to want to detailed answers, not
vague reassurances. Asking the candidate who is applying for the job of
vice president of this country how she might respond to an Israeli
military strike on an Arab country or what the federal government
should do to shore up the economy is completely relevant.

[...]

"It's easy to beat up on the media. Political candidates do it all the
time. But it's inaccurate for Palin to suggest that "all those years
ago" at the University of Idaho her professors trained her differently.
Palin graduated in 1987, a year before I graduated from the University
of Missouri. I got my first job in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho where I worked
along side many UI grads. They had the same training I had.

"We didn't consider unethical to ask hard questions. We call that doing
our job."

<http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=67&aid=151526>

*** yes. (Almost wrote "frick," but realized Maya can't hear what I'm typing.)

When journalists don't ask difficult questions, and don't continue
asking when the questions go unanswered, what exactly is the point?

Entertainment, the advertising for entertainment pays the bills better
than the advertisement for making people think. Making a practice of
pinning your specimens to a board can be risky unless you're an
entomologist. Journalism is a job, jobs have bosses, bosses have
customers; what value Truth when Profit will suffice.

--
Don't read this crap... oops, too late!

[superstitious heathen grade 8]
.