Here are my 2-cents on what I see as irresponsible journalism. Ive been unable to find footage or a transcript of the entire interview, so my reaction is based solely on the out of context, short clip that’s circulating now. I do not condone Congressman Grimm’s reaction, and Im sure Michael Scotto is a fine reporter, but it seems as if this dust-up is the result of a bit of irresponsible journalism. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a former public radio journalist, I am independent politically, and I had no idea who Michael Grimm was until today. So, I dont have a dog in this fight. Judging from the footage Ive been able to find online, it looks as if Michael Scotto is indeed taking a pot shot. Consider what is said that leads up to the confrontation: SCOTTO: “And just finally before we let you go, since we have you here, we haven’t had a chance to kind of talk about some of the…” GRIMM: “I’m not speaking about anything that’s off topic, this is only about the President’s speech…” SCOTTO: “Well what about…” GRIMM: Thank you. (Grimm walks off) SCOTTO: “Alright, so Congressman Michael Grimm does not want to talk about some of the allegations concerning his campaign finances. We wanted to get him on camera on that but he, as you saw, refused to talk about that..” From the video clips Ive been able to see, Michael Scotto NEVER finishes his question and the words allegations over your campaign finances are never spoken during what we see of the interview. The congressman walks off, then Scotto starts to do his wrap, stating that the Congressman did not want to discuss allegations over campaign finances. Scotto is ASSUMING that the Congressman KNOWS what he was going to ask. It would have been more responsible and professional to say something like: We had hoped to ask Congressman Grimm about his campaign finances, but hes obviously not taking any questions off the topic of tonights speech by the President. If you look at this objectively, its easy to see why the congressman got pissed. He was never asked about campaign finance, and the reporter tried to make it look as if the Congressman was dodging a specific question that was NEVER asked. I look forward to your responses.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 15:06:44 +0000
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