Gerri Peev

Gerri Peev is a Bulgarian-born, New Zealand-raised British journalist who is a political correspondent for "The Scotsman".

Peev is notable for authoring a 7 March 2008 interview in "The Scotsman" with Samantha Power, a foreign policy advisor to U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. During an interview by Peev, Power said of Obama's Democratic primary opponent Hillary Clinton: "She is a monster, too – that is off the record – she is stooping to anything." Peev included the remark in her article in The Scotsman, despite Power's post facto declaration that it was off the record. [cite web | author=Gerri Peev | title='Hillary Clinton's a monster': Obama aide blurts out attack in Scotsman interview | work=The Scotsman | date=2008-03-07| url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/Inside-US-poll-battle-as.3854371.jp ] Power resigned after the article was published.

The incident opened a debate about journalistic ethics. Peev told MSNBC "I don't know what the convention is in American journalism, but in Britain here we have very firm rules about the fact that generally, you establish whether a conversation or interview is on or off the record before it actually happens. She made some off-the-cuff remarks which were on the record. She even waited for the tape to start recording and then I think once she noticed that they were quite controversial she tried to withdraw just that very remark about Hillary allegedly being a monster." [http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/07/744307.aspx Reporter Stands by Work] Domenico Montanaro, "MSNBC First Read", March 7, 2008] "The LA Times" said Peev followed "standard journalistic practice" [ [http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/world/iraq/bal-te.campaign08mar08,0,2454973.story Obama adviser calls Clinton a 'monster'] James, Rainey, "The Baltimore Sun", March 8, 2008]

However some American journalists criticized Peev. Noam Scheiber from "The New Republic" said: "I have never not let a source take something off the record if they asked immediately after making their comment." [ [http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/archive/2008/03/07/i-second-that-defense-of-sam-power.aspx I Second That Defense of Sam Power] "The Stump", March 7, 2008]

Peev later appeared on MSNBC's Tucker. The host, Tucker Carlson, asked Peev why she didn't agree to Power's request to strike the unguarded remark off the record. Peev replied: "Are you really that acquiescent in the United States? In the United Kingdom journalists believe that on or off the record is a principle that's decided ahead of the interview." Peev then stated that, "If she makes a comment and decides that it's too controversial and wants to withdraw it immediately after, unfortunately if the interview is on the record, it has to go ahead." [ [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/07/tucker-to-journalist-that_n_90506.html Tucker To Journalist That Got Powers Fired: "It's A Little Much Being Lectured On Journalistic Ethics By Someone From The Scotsman"] Rachel Sklar, "The Huffington Post", March 7, 2008] [ [http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ Tucker Canceled; Other Programming Changes Ahead] Chris, "TV Newser", March 9, 2008]

After the incident "The Huffington Post" referred to Peev as "The Scot heard around the world". [ [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/07/tucker-to-journalist-that_n_90506.html Tucker To Journalist That Got Powers Fired: "It's A Little Much Being Lectured On Journalistic Ethics By Someone From The Scotsman"] Rachel Sklar, "The Huffington Post", March 7, 2008]

References

External links

* [http://thepage.time.com/2008/03/07/scotsman-reporter-speaks-out-on-power-interview/ Scotsman Reporter Speaks Out on Power Interview] , Mark Halperin, "Time: The Page", March 7, 2008
* "Not in the public interest", 2008-03-07, criticism of Peev's article from The Economist's blog [http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2008/03/great_moments_in_journalism.cfm]