"Little lady, we've had all of your disruptiveness we're going to take!"
Posted on 09/12/2008 1:03:36 PM PDT by MindBender26
The Rumblings In The Jungle – Journalists Turn On Charlie Gibson.
The phone lines are again rumbling in New York and Washington. The overriding question: Et Tu, Charlie?
I have spoken with a number of old TV journalist friends in last 12 hours. The haze of amazement hanging over the network newsroom is palatable. It’s as if old truths have been proven wrong, old friends abandoned their dearest comrades, and we all awakened up to find out that 2 + 2 really does equals 7.
Charlie Gibson’s (well, he has been “Charlie” for years, but since he apparently is not the man we all thought we knew, perhaps we should drop the familiarity.)
Let’s start again.
Charles Gibson’s interview of Sarah Palin last night was an embarrassment to ABC, journalism in general, television news in particular, and most importantly, to Mr. Gibson himself. It was not an interview. It was a debate, a sucker-punch, loaded debate where one side got to choose the questions, interrupt the other side, and then in conclusion, score the debate and give the audience their slanted interpretation of what it all meant.
The supposed interview was nothing more than a coast-to-coast, satellite-fed game of “gotcha.” ABC could have provided a valuable service to voters. Ms Palin is a newcomer to the national political scene and a realistic attempt to learn her views on important issues would have been very valuable. But last night there was little attempt to elicit Ms Palin’s beliefs on the problems of our time. The “interview” was dominated by loaded questions and sneers of disbelief whenever the Governor dared to give an answer not blessed by the New York-Washington liberal news cabal. Mr. Gibson acted more like a district attorney cross-examining a hostile witness than, dare I use the term, a “journalist” who understood America wanted to hear about Governor Palin’s positions, not his.
A polite note to Mr. Gibson: This was supposed to be an interview, not “Law and Order,” or, as it turned out, “Low and Disorderly.”
Witnesses in the network newsrooms say the reaction to the interview’s airing was akin to the televised reading of the O.J. Simpson verdict. Back then, many African-Americans cheered, while many Whites shook their heads in disbelief.
Last night, the ever-so-hip young producers and news writers, (the ones fresh from the Ivy League thought factories,) cheered; Good Old Mr. Gibson was putting her in her place! How dare this…. this…. this small state governor…. a Republican at that…. how could she ever think she is good enough to be on a national ticket! How could she ever hope to compete against the likes of such Washington Power Moguls such as Obama, Biden, and Clinton, (either Clinton, take your pick.)
Ms Palin, that Governor, that hunter, that right-to-life that weirdo, (psssst… did you know her daughter is pregnant,) well, she had the gall to try for national office without the approval of the national news media…. or as they see themselves…. the People Who Matter.
At ABC, the adolescent smirks ran as high as Sarah Palin’s approval ratings in Alaska.
But there were some who refused to join the chorus. The old guys, (yes, most were guys back then,) the guys who remember how it was years ago were upset and disappointed. These are the ones who remember when facts counted, not the reporter’s opinion.
You see, back about 50 years ago, many reporters were liberals, but a different kind of liberal. Many would take great pains to remove any liberal bias from their stories. The few conservatives, well, we too would ensure our story cut it down the middle, without conservative or liberal bias. We had all learned that in Washington there is plenty of blame, inefficiency, graft and crime to go around. You don’t have to just single out one side of the political scale. The idea was to craft your story so the reader, listener or viewer couldn’t tell which side of the political spectrum you were on. As one of the old Morrow Gang said, “I try to balance my pieces so I get an equal amount of derogatory mail from both sides. When the raving lunatic hate mail is split evenly between the liberals and conservatives, I know I am going a good job.”
That’s all changed now. Back when I started in TV, we would joke that the term “Investigative Journalist” was redundant; that all journalists were expected to be able to conduct a fair and impartial investigation, and we were expected to do so on a regular basis.
Today, it’s all “advocacy journalism.” Reporters think their stories shouldn’t just give viewers the facts. They take steps to color their pieces so viewers act in a certain way. Is the typical reporter now willing to slant a story to help their cause or candidate? Absolutely. If fact, if their story fails to promote their beliefs over others, they see it as a failure.
Which brings us all back to Charl….. make that Mr. Gibson. According to the old rules, Mr. Gibson should have asked the questions, waited for the answers, then let us, the Great Unwashed make up our minds as to who is best qualified. But now we now all know that there is no doubt; Ms. Palin is unqualified. Charles Gibson’s sneer says so.
Up until last night, Charlie Gibson was thought of as the “nicest guy in television.” Tonight, the quiet feelings among some are “Charlie, we hardly knew ya.”
Many of the older guys are not so much angry as they are disappointed. One from CBS was tempted to send Mr. Gibson an e-mail that began, “Dear Dan,”
The old Charlie Gibson was a great guy. We will miss him.
Go onto abcnews.com and send Charlie a message. I just let him know that he is a weak and spineless partisan that I had not realized before his quasi- mafioso interogation.
Hell, I remember when he was the weatherman.
Gibson showed he was not qualified to do an important national interview. He failed miserably and exposed himself as just the male version of Whoopi Goldberg.
Dripping is a good way to describe his arrogance and creepy overall demeanor. Charlie might as well have been holding his nose and gagging continuously.
Sarah was on to it immediately and maybe just a little hurt by it....I sensed her sadness at his nasty attack mode instead of a genuine interest in her ideas, and I was amazed at her calm acceptance of his childish bullying and her ability to nail him with great fluidity of response and intense eye contact.
He hates that she did not fold under his creepy manipulations and traps. He must be furious that she trashed his ego filled sense of elitism. She punished him in the nicest of ways.
She failed to make him a saint amoung his fellow liberal gooks.
He failed to show Sarah as an airhead.
Sarah ruled.
And McCain has shown us all something many of us never knew he had...an immense sense of character.
Funny you should post that...
I live in one of the most liberal areas of the country. Normally, Conservatives do not discuss politics due to the vicious response they receive about their viewpoints.
Well, the other day I was in my local supermarket and a woman I had never seen before and I remarked about the high price and low quality of the escarole. The discussion then went to the economy and gas prices to the changes in our neighborhood from ‘sanctuary cities’ surrounding us and finally to politics.
She hates Bush. Thinks all Republicans are extreme right wingers (paraphrasing) and then said something very interesting.
After looking over her shoulder, you know the way ppl do when they are about to tell a questionable joke, and tentatively said... “but, ya know, I like Sarah Palin”. When I said I did too, she admitted that she was originally afraid to admit it to her friends but came to find they all like her too.
she doesn’t know why she likes Gov. Palin but she really does, her friends really do. And she is angry how the media is treating her.
I told her it was ok to like Gov Palin. It was, in fact, good for her family and good for her country to like Gov. Palin. Then I gave her my business card with some cool links on the back (to this site and the numbersusa site and a few others) and left feeling that I did my good deed for the day.
It is surprising how this is all turning out. McCain was losing. Now ppl from all walks of life are on his side, mostly out of gathering in protectionism of Gov. Palin in a way that women do when one of are own are threatened.
Geez, the bodies are gonna start pilin’ up fast.
Ouch.. that had to hurt..
Charlie Gibson was pathetic. I’m also a bit disappointed with his past “colleagues” (including on Fox) who are trying to give him a break, when they really should be saying what is the obvious, that this “interview” was a horribly condescending interrogation that would never happen if Gibson was interviewing a man. Stupid jerk.
I expect you will be disappointed, He is playing second string to Hannity, who will interview Sarah, on Tuesday.
I’m going to be listening intently to Mark Levin’s show this afternoon ... he is the gentleman who will skewer these liberal pukes at the drop of a hat and his analysis is ALWAYS precise and accurate.
What an idiot!
well it definitely prepares Sarah for the debate with Biden. It’s all for the good, I tell ya
What’s worse for them is that Palin didn’t whine about being a victim. She answered the questions and didn’t talk about how unfair everyone is to her. This is one of her outstanding qualities.
I know a guy who knew Hanns Scharff. Charles Gibson is no Hanns Scharff!
LoL...
Gibson is as sleazy as the rest at ABCCBSNBC, Euro wannabe’s all. They don’t like America or Americans. They yearn to be Social Euros.
In 1776, they would have supported King George III.
A joe biden type of guy. After your are around long enough, you finally get a few crumbs.
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