Okay let me set this up. Lisa Murkowski was speaking at the AFN (Alaska Federation of Natives) convention and agreed to meet with the press afterward.
The question you hear is asked by young woman from KTUU, a local television station in Anchorage.
"Please state and spell your name? And for the record your title." Did you see Senator Murkowsi's eyes after she answered that last question? She could NOT believe she was just asked that!
Like every other state we only have two Senators, and in the small town atmosphere of Anchorage they are not hard to miss when they are here. Yet this reporter does not seem to know that she is speaking to one of them? And supposedly she works in the NEWS business!
People from outside have often asked how it is possible that Sarah Palin could have gotten away with the things that she did. Well now you know.
We have subpar journalists up here. And that is why the Alaska blogs became so important. We were doing the job that was being left undone.
(H/T to Dennis Zaki)
Gryphen, thanks a lot for this brilliant clip, this gave me the laugh of the day! Unbelievable! What qualifications do you need to become a journalist (?) at KTUU?
ReplyDeleteOk i'll open. I just saw two day old news on teevee. Now how much do you think i think of our local snewz. File this one for a later date.
ReplyDeleteObviously she got her education at the same college as Sarah
ReplyDeleteI hate to say it but people with a brain don't move TO Alaska they move OUT of Alaska.
ReplyDeleteWith a few notable exceptions. ;-)
She qualifies to work at FOX "News" Network, doesn't she?
ReplyDeleteI understand your complaint, but just think how those very same questions could have possibly spared us four years of George Bush, had they been asked. (rim-shot)
ReplyDeleteI think the reporter just wanted to have her answer a question truthfully...for once.
ReplyDeleteI think that your reporter has been watching too many cops shows on TV. We all know the scene where the suspect and the cop are in that room with the "window" (it's really a one way mirror.) The tape recorder is running and the cop says, "Please state your name and occupation for the record." Could be a court room scene, too. Then, to keep things legit, the cop adds the date, his name, and what ever else the law department told him to include. Given this scenario, I am surprised that the reporter didn't read Lisa her rights or swear her in. You can get carried away with TV dialog.
ReplyDeleteActually, it's very routine in a press conference to go over names, spelling and pronunciation - just like the reporter did.
ReplyDeleteWhat's different here is that it's not a press conference. This was an interview with a US Senator and the reporter should not have asked the questions because a good reporter would have already known the answers.
My sympathies, Alaska. And, thanks EVER SO MUCH for your blogs. Gryphen, I always come to yours first, then check out the left-hand sidebar. Invaluable!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I sent you $50 via PayPal yesterday. I hope others are doing the same. It's only fair!
Wow! No wonder they can't get to the bottom of Babygate, or Housegate, or Troopergate, or Dairygate...
ReplyDeleteAnon at 633 gets it.
ReplyDeleteThe Alaska bloggers are prove of that !
This will be a cringe worthy remembrance for the rest of this poor schmuck's life. - Hedgewytch
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe how the Alaskan news (and even you bloggers, sorry) have let the Alaska Fund Trust debacle rot for as long as it has.
ReplyDeleteIn July and August there was a big scandal raised about the structure and funding of this trust, not to mention the fact that a disclosure is LONG overdue. . .I wrote in to all of you, and to the ADN and to other newpapers, asking, What's Up with the Fund Trust??
Only of late has it reared its head again, without a lot of noise made, and appears to have gone underground again.
What's Up with the Fund Trust, Gryph? Why is no one DEMANDING disclosure? Why is no one PUSHING to expose this fraud?
Too difficult? Something behind the scenes that we are supposed to just shut up and wait for??
I think this is a bigger scandal than Troopergate and SarahPAC and, almost, Babygate. At least there is a paper trail to follow. . .isn't there? Why aren't you and/or Celtic Diva diving into this thing?????
??????
Um, er, thanks.
The reporter said ”for the record” which makes me think she was making it clear for those people who may later view the video who was the speaker, not that she didn’t know Murkowski.
ReplyDeleteFunny part was when Lisa paused when asked her title, even she forgot for a second.
To Anon 2:00 pm;
ReplyDeleteHow about this. If the reporter was only making clear for posterity or a radio audience, to whom it was she was speaking, why then did she just state "for the record", to whom it was she was speaking instead of going through such a silly charade. I think Murkowski stumbled in her answer in a magnanimous attempt to help shield the reporter from what should have been her embarrassment for having acted so stupidly.
I'm definitely not an apologist for Murkowski, nor for the Rethuglican Party, but given the state of the Rethugs today, Murkowski is far from the worst. By that reporters attempt to demean Murkowski, which is by the way what I think she was attempting, she just displayed her lack of expertise at performing her job.
Actually, by saying she attempted to demean may be giving her too much credit. If she was stupid enough not to know who she was, would be the far greater indictment.
Thank God for the Alaska bloggers.
To be fair, as a former television news photographer, reporter, and photojournalist, I interviewed my state's governor and US senators, as well as mayors and other officials who were well-known to me.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time when I was doing a one-on-one interview, where I have individually "miced" (fitted a microphone on) the individual, I went through the same routine, for two reasons:
1. I set and checked the audio levels while the name and title were being spoken and the name spelled.
2. For any number of reasons, I might be handing off this tape to others and this is an additional safeguard that a name "key," the graphic identifier that appears onscreen while the interviewee is speaking, has the proper spelling and identifies his or her title as he or she prefers it.
This was standard procedure on most of the hundreds of interviews I conducted, no matter how well I knew the interviewee.