"Gotcha" is a dangerous game to play

Every four years some new terms creep into the political process. Things like "soccer moms" and "talking points" are a few that come to mind in recent history. Funny how this year the two most popular are "gotcha journalism" and "in the tank" which are both terms concerning media bias.

It's one thing to conduct an interview and air a soundbite when a candidate says something stupid. It's quite another to slant your questions with the intent of making a candidate look bad.

And that's what "gotcha journalism" is all about. Fair and objective have gone right out the window in favor of the quest for the "stupid" sound bite.

Many years ago I was asked to pick up a vo/sot with a guy running for the local school board. I'd never met the man, he'd never held office, and I had no idea what to expect. I asked a question any reporter would have, "What changes would you make if elected to the school board?"

The answer just floored me. The man said, "I don't know. I've never been to a school board meeting."

I asked a few more basic questions, then headed back to the station. Our ND at the time like to review all scripts, so I showed him the sound bite before I wrote the vo/sot. Though the bite made the guy look clueless, we aired it, since the ND said it was a fair question I would have asked any candidate.

Now, if I'd gone into the interview and asked a guy who'd never served on the school board, "What is your position on last year's expenditures on chalk and erasers?" well, I'm betting even an incumbent would have trouble answering that. It would have been "gotcha journalism."

Obscure questions that no one could answer without looking things up are the lifeblood of gotcha journalism. And here's a tip... if this is a question no one in the newsroom could answer, you probably shouldn't ask it. Think about it... is your question an honest inquiry to inform the public, or are you simply in quest of a watercooler soundbite that has nothing to do with a candidate's qualifications? I could ask Joe Biden who the first Governor of Delaware was or Sarah Palin how many pounds of salmon were caught in Alaska last year, and probably neither would be able to answer the question. It doesn't have anything to do with their qualifications.

Gotcha journalism and taking things out of context do nothing but slant the news and give the industry a bad name. If you ask a fair question and the response is stupid, by all means it is fair game. But if your sole intent is to play the gotcha game, you're not hurting the candidate, but your reputation.

Oh, and by the way... that school board candidate? He won in a landslide.