Gotcha Journalism

by Saul Bloodworth


Sarah Palin said she would bomb Pakistan if she had to. She said this not to a journalist — since she is afraid to talk to journalists — but to a Democratic activist who posed as a voter; he had tracked her down in a Philadelphia Pizza place.

John McCain, of course, blamed "gotcha"-journalism for the incident; well, this is to be expected. He is running a campaign to get them both elected. But here is the odd thing: CNN tracked the activist/journalist down, and one of these pretty faces whose name I don't recall asked him repeatedly whether he was into "gotcha-journalism".

Huh? They guy held his ground against Pretty Face, but what did he actually do? He had asked a politician a question in a somewhat heated situation, the politician had produced a gaffe in response — now it's his fault that Palin is dimwitted?

There is no such thing as "gotcha-journalism", there is only journalism, as opposed to celebrity ass-kissing. And if CNN with all their resources can't track Palin down, they should as least keep their trap shut if someone else is doing their job.