Gotcha!
Many Americans now think this is journalism.
It doesn’t matter that the "gotcha" moment was obtained with false credentials or a hidden camera. No one seems to care about honor or ethics—just get a "gotcha" moment, and stock seems to rise on your website.
The latest national "gotcha" moment has been brought to us by conservative activist James O’Keefe. He duped National Public Radio fund-raising executive Ronald Schiller into thinking he was speaking privately with two representatives of the fictitious Muslim Action Education Center.
During the conversation, which was secretly taped, Schiller said the Tea Party consists of “white, middle-America, gun-toting...seriously racist, racist people.” He also labeled Tea Party members as “fundamentalist Christian” and “xenophobic.”
Shortly after the news broke, NPR president and CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation) resigned her position. Word is that she was forced out.
This brouhaha comes on the heels of Ian Murphy, editor of liberal online newspaper The Buffalo Beast, posing as a billionaire backer while speaking to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Walker thought he was talking to conservative entrepreneur David Koch, but it was actually the liberal blogger on the other line as Walker discussed the idea of depositing troublemakers at union rallies in Madison, Wis. Walker also didn’t hide the fact that he was taking on the teachers union, with no mention of improved education.
Both of these acts are reprehensible. To call this journalism is a travesty. Yet this is what our nation is coming to accept as trusted news-gathering.
Newspapers continue to struggle, but O’Keefe’s escapades are garnering millions of hits online. TV and radio news budgets are being dramatically cut, but Murphy’s lying and subsequent audio interview with Walker garnered international attention. Both of these "gotcha" moments would not have happened without lies.
During my days at a daily newspaper, do you know what we would have got for lying about our identities to obtain information? Fired!
As we await the next "gotcha" moment, let’s remember that this is not journalism. It’s like MTV’s Punked being passed off as something of news-worthy value.
