'Gotcha' Journalism

About 20 years ago or so, there was a character Dana Carvey would play during a segment on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" known simply as "The Grumpy Old Man". He would randomly rant about the direction the modern world was headed. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look here (You might want to stop it at about the 1:40 mark--Trust me):
http://www.hulu.com/watch/4303/saturday-night-live-grumpy-old-man

I bring this up because some people might have had the same feeling listening to John McCain vent to Katie Couric during her follow-up interview with Sarah Palin. If you haven't seen it yet, take a look here: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/30/am.mccain.palin.gotcha.cnn

So, who or what is to blame for this era of "gotcha" journalism? Is it the individual journalists or is it the news organizations as a whole? Can it be totally contributed to what some would say as the decay of traditional journalistic values?

Some other questions also come to mind:
*If it were a Town Hall meeting or some other public function, would McCain have called out the media in such a way? Did he rant just because it was a one-on-one interview?
*What about Katie Couric's response? Does she think McCain's evaluation of "gotcha" journalism is fair or accurate?

Things Overheard in a Taco Bell Drive-up Line

So, I had just gotten out of work this afternoon, and was waiting in the drive-up at Taco Bell. I flipped around the radio, and eventually landed on The Dan Patrick Show. For those of you who don't know, Dan Patrick was a major host of SportsCenter on ESPN for years and years before leaving them recently for his own show, loosely affiliated with Sports Illustrated.
Anyway, he was discussing something I think is very pertinent to our class. A link is found at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/blog/8601/

The story is about an interview between Michael Phelps (yes, THAT Michael Phelps) and Dan Le Batard, a Miami Sports Radio Host whose goal is to make every interview memorable.

Basically, Le Batard asked Phelps about the coolest thing that's happened to him since the Olympics. Phelps, who was only there to promote the Kellogg's products his face now graces, side-stepped the question by talking about the Kellogg's-related charity he had just set up. Then the interesting stuff began...

Le Batard then said, “That was a nice move there, Michael, because you just segued right into what it is that you were selling there, when that can’t be the coolest thing to happen to you since the Olympics."

Phelps mentioned Kellogg's again and raising swimming awareness or something. In reference to a less-than-savory photo of Phelps in a nightclub, Le Batard then asked, “Do you go into the nightclub with these Kellogg’s products and just drop them on the floor with your face on them?”

Phelps decided enough was enough, and ended the interview, but not before accidentally not hanging up the phone right away and saying this about Le Batard: "That guy was an idiot, that was ridiculous."

Le Batard later called into The Dan Patrick Show to defend his method of journalism, which you can listen to by following the link.

So, this brings up a few interesting questions with regards to our class:
Was Le Batard fair to Michael Phelps?
Did he press that last point too hard?
Could Michael Phelps have gone off script and had some fun with it?
Does he have a responsibility to the media to answer their questions?
Has he developed a poor relationship with the media after this incident?

New E-Magazine

Howdy, Y'all!
Just wanted to direct you towards my E-Magazine for my Comms 101 class. It's a weekly preview and review of each new episode of "The Office". Check it out at http://mortysoffice.7h.com.

I Knew I Picked A Good One!

SO, like I mentioned on here, I decided to follow the Web Site of KUTV Channel 2 News in Salt Lake City for the semester. Look what I found: http://www.kutv.com/content/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=e2110e73-ac8a-46de-ba77-c28b47b951dd&rss=991
A story on how the Utah State Government is increasingly using Twitter. How about that?

RIP Mary Garber

Touching tribute to a pioneer of sportswriting from North Carolina, Ms. Mary Garber in the Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/sports/23garber.html?_r=1&ref=media&oref=slogin

Since I want to be a sportswriter, I've been doing a lot of research into the lives and backgrounds of some of my journalistic idols: Buster Olney, Tim Kurkjian, etc. Many of them have a reverence for Garber, because she excelled in her field at a time when everyone was doing their best to exclude women from the sportswriting profession. Now, it seems that women reporting on sports have been popping up more and more. What an age we live in...

Building Blocks of News

For the first part of the activity, I thought it was kinda tedious, more like "Building Blocks of Snooze". (Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all semester. Try the veal.)
However, as things went on, I saw the bigger picture. Yes, the work was repetitive, but news writing itself is repetitive. These are the principles that have been tried and tested to help us succeed. So, it was good to see everything all broken down and explained in such a way that is easy to remember and actually a little bit fun.

What a Class!

Just got out of our class discussion. Boy, what a time!
I have to explain: I am not just a journalism buff, but a HUGE American history buff. Seeing just how closely these two things intertwine was fascinating for me. I know not everyone will share the same kind of enthusiasm I have for this kind of stuff, but I just thought it was a very entertaining class period.
I'll probably post again later today about the NewsU assignment. See you then!