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Public broadcasting is a place where we subsidize documentaries about actual Stalinists, though I suppose I should note Seeger did eventually apologize for being AN ACTUAL STALINIST. I was subjected to the most unbelievably annoying Pete Seeger documentary (produced by Norman Lear, naturally) on the local public broadcasting station. Speaking of, yesterday during this Gross interview I happened to be in the waiting room of my dentist waiting for my youngest’s teeth-cleaning to be over. In any case, even if everyone in her newsroom and listening audience has roughly the same perspective, Gross should understand that the NPR community is not necessarily a good reflection of the general American population. One of the media’s favorite narratives on this issue, in fact, is how quickly everyone has changed their mind on same-sex marriage, even if they don’t get into what people’s actual views are regarding what marriage is and what it means and how it’s defined and what it’s limits should be. And while I can’t find it right now, I recall reading polls of journalists in the 1990s that showed how out of touch they were with mainstream American thought and the most prominent example was that they were far more likely to support redefining marriage than non-journalists. I mean, yes, on the far left, I’m sure a noticeable contingent were for same-sex marriage in the 1990s, when public opinion polling on the matter was scarce. I want what Terry Gross is smoking! Because that’s hilarious. GROSS: “I understand but a lot of people believed in it already back in the ’90s. Hillary responded to question #3 by saying:ĬLINTON: “I think I’m an American, I think that we have all evolved, and it’s been one of the fastest, most sweeping transformations that I’m aware of.” 2) Hillary’s right–everyone changed their mind on same-sex marriage in about 15 seconds. This was seven minutes with the immediate past Secretary of State that could have been spent interrogating Hillary’s successes and failures regarding any of the global conflagrations that are exploding right now - Ukraine, Putin’s general march, the fall of Iraq, the rise of Iran, Libya’s anarchy, Syria’s human rights crisis, global persecution of Christians, Boko Haram, the coup in Thailand, North Korean threats, and so on and so forth. Gross admits this is what she was trying to get Hillary to say in Question Number 9.Įvery reporter has goals for an interview, and Gross is one of the best in the business, but this was a stupid goal and she should have recognized it by question 6, at least.Īnd on that note, unless you have four hours with a presidential candidate, this is a ridiculous length of time to spend on something unimportant - particularly when pursued so uncritically. That Gross tried nine more times, with increasing belligerence, doesn’t reflect poorly on Clinton but on her. She could tell - everyone could tell - what Gross was telegraphing from miles away. Thank you for asking!” Say what you want about Hillary Clinton, she’s not an idiot.
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Gross, I did in fact lie through my teeth for decades for political gain. What journalist expects a politician to say, “Why yes, Ms. Here are four troubling aspects about Terry Gross’ line of questioning: 1) Gross spent too long on an unrealistic goal That media coverage is unskeptical, political at the expense of anything deeper, and myopic to the extreme.Īnd as much as it kind of makes me die inside to say it, Hillary Clinton handled this interview really well - if you’re assuming she wants to run for president of an America that does not uniformly march in lock-step with the folks inhabiting most newsrooms. With all due respect to the dulcet-voiced and predictably liberal Terry Gross, her questions demonstrate most everything that’s wrong with media coverage of same-sex marriage.