Gotcha

Republicans don't like journalists because they can't control them.

"If you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen." -- Harry S. Truman

   Presidential candidates and Republican Party operatives have renewed their attack on what they call the "lamestream media" after disappointing --- dare we say failing? -- performances at the most recent televised "debate."
   Their major complaint seems to be against what they call "gotcha" questions from the journalist-moderators. They charge that the prime goal of the moderators was to ask "gotcha" questions intended solely to embarrass the candidates, and not to obtain substantive responses to serious questions.
   A major irony was the proposal by Sen. Ted Cruz that the next Republican debate be moderated by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Michael Levin. "Now that would be a debate," Sen. Cruz proclaimed.
   Our resident cynic, Pug Mahoney, noted that it would be less a debate than a propaganda session, since the three proposed moderators -- all ultra-conservative broadcast commentators -- likely don't even know the meaning of the word "neutral."
   That, however, is what journalists and debate moderators should be -- neutral. As noted here previously, reporters ask tough questions because they need to be asked. To brand a reporter or moderator as an adversary who asks "mean spirited" questions in an attempt to embarrass the candidate shows first a lack of understanding of the reporter's role. Secondly, and more important, it reveals an attempt to control the message by controlling the questioner, and in a larger sense to control the news media.
   At the same time, however, the moderator of a political debate should be able to control the proceedings. Unfortunately, that was something the journalist-moderators at last week's debate failed to do. They lost control within the first five minutes of the program, and the "debate" collapsed into a competitive quagmire of attempts by the various candidates to take control. None did, so for the remainder of the two-hour program, contestants continued to talk even as the moderator reminded them that their time had expired.
   A result of all the night's confusion was that there was very little substantive discussion of issues expected in a debate sponsored by CNBC, the television network devoted to business and the economy.
   In short, it is a reporter's job to ask tough questions.
   As presidential candidate Chris Christie, Republican governor of New Jersey and a participant in the recent debate, put it, anyone who aspires to be President of the United States should be able to handle tough questions.
  Ultimately, the issue is this: Do reporters set out to embarrass politicians by asking "gotcha" questions? Perhaps. But at root, journalists ask questions to get at the truth, and to establish whether the contestant knows the topic and can speak knowledgeably about it. If the candidate suffers embarrassment for failing the test, that's on him or her.
  Or to put it another way, embarrassment is the only weapon  news reporters have.