Gotcha journalism

Gotcha journalism refer to methods of interviewing which are designed to entrap the interviewee into making statements which are damaging or discreditable to their character, integrity or repute. [Two Cheers for Minority Government: The Evolution of Canadian Parliamentary Democracy By Peter H. Russell 2008 p167] The aim is to capture footage or recordings of the interview which can be selectively edited, compiled and broadcast or published for propaganda purposes. [Be A Freelance Writer Surayud Chulanont Global Media ISBN 8189940333, 9788189940331]

Techniques

Some of the methods include misrepresenting the topic of the interview then switching to an embarrassing subject, leading the interviewee to commit to a certain answer then confronting them with pre-prepared material designed to contradict or discredit that position, repeatedly baiting the interviewee to befuddle them and get their guard down to elicit an embarrassing response. Quite commonly gotcha journalism is designed to keep the interviewee on the defensive such as as explaining some of their own statements taken out of context thus effectively preventing the interviewee from discussing their own agenda for the interview. [Be A Freelance Writer Surayud Chulanont Global Media ISBN 8189940333, 9788189940331]

The intent of gotcha journalism is always premeditated and used to defame or discredit the interviewee by portraying them as self contradictory, malevolent, unqualified, or immoral and capture the footage for propaganda purposes. [With Malice Toward All?Patricia Moy, Michael Pfau p43] This affect is also achieved by replaying selected quotes from public speeches and following with hand-picked footage or images that appear to re-inforce negative images of the interviewee.

For example, a city's mayor might give a speech in which he claims that during his tenure, employment is at a record high in his city. A news outlet may replay that speech and follow up with footage of desperate men and women at the unemployment office, and perhaps even an interview in which the person is asked to comment on the mayor's speech. The interviewee in this case may be baited with questions that have very obvious answers such as, "The mayor says unemployment is a record low; how do you respond to that?"

Gotcha journalism may also be achieved by misleading an interviewee about which portions of his or her statements will be aired, or misleading the audience about how an expert opinion is acquired. For example, a special feature may be run on drug use in schools. To add sensationalism, an "expert" may be given manufactured statistics that indicate a three-fold increase in drug use is occurring in suburban schools, and asked to comment on what it might mean, if real. The expert may issue a statement such as, "If this were actually happening, this trend would be alarming - thank goodness it's not!" To discredit this expert, the whole clip may be aired, in which the reporter narrates, "We asked Dr. John Q. Smith to comment on drug use in American schools" followed by the clip of this quote, in which it appears that Dr. Smith is in denial over drugs in school. Alternatively, if Dr. Smith's quote makes the case that the reporter wishes to have made, the narration might state, "We asked Dr. John Q. Smith what he thinks of the increase in drug use and he said," followed by the section of the clip in which Smith says, "this trend would be alarming."

Manipulation of quotes, images, and archive footage is typical in the rigorous editing process, especially for news magazines, and does not cross over into gotcha journalism until there is a deliberate attempt to mislead an interviewee, expert, or the audience. Most commonly this manifests by finding footage of exceptions to a generalization given by a speaker or interviewee. For example, in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, a number of public officials gave public statements in which they stated that progress was being made. A number of news outlets aired the statements followed by footage of flooded homes, abandoned neighborhoods, and interviews with the many people still affected by the disaster for whom there clearly was no progress yet.

Pivotal court case

In 1964, the pivotal U.S. Supreme Court case ("New York Times Co. v. Sullivan", 376 U.S. 254) ended most libel protection recourse for public figures in the United States effectively clearing the way for intrusive or adversarial reportage into the public or private affairs of public figures by news media outlets whether newspapers, TV or radio. Public figures no longer could sue for libel regardless of the bias of the agenda of reporters. [Bill Clinton - Nigel Hamilton p284]

History

The phrase gotcha journalism is reported to have been based on a headline in "The Sun", the British tabloid newspaper, in 1982, when it printed a massive headline reading "GOTCHA" in reference to an incident in the Falklands War. An early citation indicated it was used by Stuart K. Spencer in the "Los Angeles Times" in 1987. [http://www.wordspy.com/words/gotchajournalism.asp]
The full story is given a book called [Stick It Up Your Punter [http://books.guardian.co.uk/top10s/top10/0,,101926,00.html] by the British author [Chris Horrie [http://www.westminsterjournalism.co.uk] . The headline was also used in a Hollywood movie about the newspaper business. [The Paper (1994) [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110771/] which was based in part on Horrie's book.

Former Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle reportedly referred to "gotcha journalism" in 1999 during an interview with talk-show host David Letterman.

Sarah Palin blamed "gotcha journalism" when she answered a voter's question with a summary of policy on Pakistan that was in direct opposition to that of her running mate.

During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, "Wall Street Journal" columnist Gordon Crovitz suggested that the term "gotcha journalism" was used heavily by Republican campaign managers to diminish the credibility of journalists interviewing about the Iraq war. [ [Crovitz, L. Gordon. "A Report to Our Readers". The Wall Street Journal (New York), page A14, August 31, 2004. ] ]

References

External links

* [http://64.146.17.242/stories/100699/ent_1006990033.asp 1999 Associated Press article archived at Jefferson City (MO) News Tribune]
[http://www.macmillandictionary.com/MED-Magazine/November2004/24-New-Word-gotcha.htm 2004 spotlight article at macmillandictionary.com]
[http://www.mikehersh.com/printer_Gotcha_Journalism_is_a_Cancer.shtml| 2004 article at mikehersh.com]
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/07/14/EDG4PDN4TU1.DTL 2005 article from San Francisco Chronicle]