| It turns out that the City Pages isn't the only local organ to run a crap "interview" with Michele Bachmann this week.
The St. Cloud Times has done the same thing. Their Washington correspondent is a Gannett News Service guy name Larry Bivins. He filed a story from Washington that purports to be an interview with Bachmann.
The Strib claims that there is news value in Bachmann's answer to the last question in the interview--a question regarding possible regrets that she might have about charges of "anti-Americans" and "gangster government" in Washington.
Nah. No news value there, unless the interviewer asks her a follow up about her most recent remarks on these themes. With dates, the quotations, etc. And there's no news value unless the interviewer asks Bachmann whether she regrets particular statements she's made throughout her career: with the dates, the quotations, etc.
Now I say the St. Cloud Times story "purports" to be an interview with Bachmann. I say that because the City Pages had the honesty to tell its readers that their Bachmann interview was not really an interview: it was instead a "manipulate the media game" played according to Bachmann's rules. Bachmann would not participate unless questions were submitted to her in advance, in writing--and she would send answers to the questions the same way. Absolutely no spontaneity, no chance for candor.
Here, in the St. Cloud Times interview: we have no indication about the ground rules. It may have been held live and been a true interview--it may have been conducted by email with questions submitted in advance, like the City Pages non-interview.
I do know this: the New York Times turned down Bachmann's "questions must be submitted in advance" conditions for an interview. In this instance, the Times would not allow itself to be used a tool for publishing varnished spin in place of news. The City Pages did agree to do that, for sake of getting access to Bachmann. The jury's still out on the St. Cloud Times; I have a call in to the reporter.
Here's the link to the story:
http://www.sctimes.com/article... |
