Sarah Palin and Katie Couric
Sarah Palin was apparently unhappy with the way she presented herself during a recent interview on CBS conducted by Katie Couric. It would seem evidenced in a later interview that what she was unhappy about was not a lack of being properly prepared for the interview, her conduct appearance, or anything else she had direct control over or responsibility for. Typical. Palin blames Couric for the way the the interview was conducted and more specifically the questions the CBS anchor asked.
This can happen. Journalist many times are influenced by their own agendas and personal beliefs. That in and of itself is not always an improper thing so long as it is known that the bias exist and is open. It becomes an ethics issue when it is portrayed as unbiased. Most of the major news reporting agencies try to avoid this sort of agenda pushing deceptive journalism (The big obvious exception is of course FOX news). Other news organizations (Or specific “Journalist) drop all pretense as to their political position but are quit open about it. I listen to Air America and read a varity of left leaning periodicals. I don’t expect them to play very favorably to GOP candidates any more than I would expect Rush Limbaugh to be nice to Ralph Nader (Or to stop popping prescription meds while preaching about the villainy of drug users). I my self write with my beliefs and attitudes very openly displayed. I do my research check my facts as best I can and present them as I see them through my eyes. I am biased. I am also not a professional journalist. I am just an amateur hack essay writer. I am not in the business of presenting unbiased news.
So the question remains (still, after my long-winded rant) Did Couric cross some line of journalist ethics during her interview with Palin? Palin sure things so. I however do not.
Appearing on a friendlier news outlet the Fox news network (Now there is some “Fair and Balanced” reporting. Gov. Sarah Palin said she was "annoyed" with the way Katie Couric handled their interview and complained that the CBS Evening News host failed to give her the opportunity to take a proverbial axe to Barack Obama.
I thought this was an interview not an ad campaign spot where that sort of “axe grinding” is generally regulated to or a debate were things are ...well debated. This was a question and answer session. If you don’t like how you think the public will precieve your answers to questions then either you are worried about the public being aware of your stance on certain issues (In which case you are perpetuating a deception by trying to conceal parts of your agenda) or you are not sure of the answers in the first place. Either way it’s a P.R. problem and your own responsibility .
In a portion of her sit-down with Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron, Palin claimed that Couric's questions -- which produced a series of staggeringly embarrassing responses -- put her in a lose-lose position.
"The Sarah Palin in those interviews was a little bit annoyed," she said. "It's like, man, no matter what you say, you are going to get clobbered. If you choose to answer a question, you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try to pivot and go to another subject that you believe that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that too."
For the record, Couric asked her, among other things, what type of news sources she turns to for information, which Supreme Court decisions she disagreed with, why Alaska's proximity to Russia gave her foreign policy experience, her opinion of the bailout package for Wall Street, and where she thought Vice President Dick Cheney erred. Which one of those questions was designed to trip her up (as opposed to, say, give viewers a better sense of her character and views) is tough to ascertain.
Later in her interview with Cameron, Palin offered a sense of what she thinks would have been a fairer set of questions. Unsurprisingly, they all would have provided her the opportunity to rail against Obama.
"In those Katie Couric interviews, I did feel that there were lot of things that she was missing in terms of an opportunity to ask what a VP candidate stands for, what the values are represented in our ticket. I wanted to talk about Barack Obama increasing taxes, which would lead to killing jobs. I wanted to talk about his proposal to increase government spending by another trillion dollars. Some of his comments that he's made about the war, that I think may, in my world, disqualify someone from consideration as the next commander in chief. Some of the comments that he has made about Afghanistan -- what we are doing there, supposedly just air raiding villages and killing civilians. That's reckless. I want to talk about things like that. So I guess I have to apologize for being a bit annoyed, but that's also an indication of being outside the Washington elite, outside of the media elite also. I just wanted to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for."
Well she should be happy now. Fox has provided her with a platform to make a campaign speech rather than grant an interview. Yes, there is a fine line between the two and a very fine line between a presentation of ones agenda and the presentation of an disguised attack on ones opponents .I my OPINION Sarah Palin crossed that line not Katie Couric. Rather than answer questions about herself she chose to raise questions about Obama. I will assume she is happy now to have had another opportunity to get what she wanted originally from CBS.
As far as what she wanted? Well...
Mrs. Palin, wanted to conduct a campaign speech not participate in an interview.
Click Here to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ear3W1usG1c
This can happen. Journalist many times are influenced by their own agendas and personal beliefs. That in and of itself is not always an improper thing so long as it is known that the bias exist and is open. It becomes an ethics issue when it is portrayed as unbiased. Most of the major news reporting agencies try to avoid this sort of agenda pushing deceptive journalism (The big obvious exception is of course FOX news). Other news organizations (Or specific “Journalist) drop all pretense as to their political position but are quit open about it. I listen to Air America and read a varity of left leaning periodicals. I don’t expect them to play very favorably to GOP candidates any more than I would expect Rush Limbaugh to be nice to Ralph Nader (Or to stop popping prescription meds while preaching about the villainy of drug users). I my self write with my beliefs and attitudes very openly displayed. I do my research check my facts as best I can and present them as I see them through my eyes. I am biased. I am also not a professional journalist. I am just an amateur hack essay writer. I am not in the business of presenting unbiased news.
So the question remains (still, after my long-winded rant) Did Couric cross some line of journalist ethics during her interview with Palin? Palin sure things so. I however do not.
Appearing on a friendlier news outlet the Fox news network (Now there is some “Fair and Balanced” reporting. Gov. Sarah Palin said she was "annoyed" with the way Katie Couric handled their interview and complained that the CBS Evening News host failed to give her the opportunity to take a proverbial axe to Barack Obama.
I thought this was an interview not an ad campaign spot where that sort of “axe grinding” is generally regulated to or a debate were things are ...well debated. This was a question and answer session. If you don’t like how you think the public will precieve your answers to questions then either you are worried about the public being aware of your stance on certain issues (In which case you are perpetuating a deception by trying to conceal parts of your agenda) or you are not sure of the answers in the first place. Either way it’s a P.R. problem and your own responsibility .
In a portion of her sit-down with Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron, Palin claimed that Couric's questions -- which produced a series of staggeringly embarrassing responses -- put her in a lose-lose position.
"The Sarah Palin in those interviews was a little bit annoyed," she said. "It's like, man, no matter what you say, you are going to get clobbered. If you choose to answer a question, you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try to pivot and go to another subject that you believe that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that too."
For the record, Couric asked her, among other things, what type of news sources she turns to for information, which Supreme Court decisions she disagreed with, why Alaska's proximity to Russia gave her foreign policy experience, her opinion of the bailout package for Wall Street, and where she thought Vice President Dick Cheney erred. Which one of those questions was designed to trip her up (as opposed to, say, give viewers a better sense of her character and views) is tough to ascertain.
Later in her interview with Cameron, Palin offered a sense of what she thinks would have been a fairer set of questions. Unsurprisingly, they all would have provided her the opportunity to rail against Obama.
"In those Katie Couric interviews, I did feel that there were lot of things that she was missing in terms of an opportunity to ask what a VP candidate stands for, what the values are represented in our ticket. I wanted to talk about Barack Obama increasing taxes, which would lead to killing jobs. I wanted to talk about his proposal to increase government spending by another trillion dollars. Some of his comments that he's made about the war, that I think may, in my world, disqualify someone from consideration as the next commander in chief. Some of the comments that he has made about Afghanistan -- what we are doing there, supposedly just air raiding villages and killing civilians. That's reckless. I want to talk about things like that. So I guess I have to apologize for being a bit annoyed, but that's also an indication of being outside the Washington elite, outside of the media elite also. I just wanted to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for."
Well she should be happy now. Fox has provided her with a platform to make a campaign speech rather than grant an interview. Yes, there is a fine line between the two and a very fine line between a presentation of ones agenda and the presentation of an disguised attack on ones opponents .I my OPINION Sarah Palin crossed that line not Katie Couric. Rather than answer questions about herself she chose to raise questions about Obama. I will assume she is happy now to have had another opportunity to get what she wanted originally from CBS.
As far as what she wanted? Well...
Mrs. Palin, wanted to conduct a campaign speech not participate in an interview.
Click Here to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ear3W1usG1c
Post a Comment
[
