Gotcha journalism
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Gotcha journalism is a term often used to refer to techniques primarily used in certain versions of broadcast journalism to represent a specific person or group of people in a specifically desired manner through manipulation of images and quotes, or through editing of interviews.
[edit] History
The phrase gotcha journalism is reported to have been based on a headline in The Sun, the British tabloid newspaper, in 1982, when it printed a massive headline reading "GOTCHA" in reference to an incident in the Falklands War. An early citation indicated it was used by Stuart K. Spencer in the Los Angeles Times in 1987. [1]
The full story is given a book called [Stick It Up Your Punter[2]] by the British author [Chris Horrie[3]]. The headline was also used in a Hollywood movie about the newspaper business. [The Paper (1994)[4]]which was based in part on Horrie's book.
Former United States Vice President Dan Quayle reportedly referred to "gotcha journalism" in 1999 during an interview with talk-show host David Letterman.
[edit] Techniques
Gotcha journalism generally refers to a method of interviewing or editing of interviews in which the interviewee is made to look foolish or out of touch. The effect is often to make the targeted person look uninformed or as if he or she is lying. This effect is also achieved by replaying quotes from public speeches and following with hand-picked footage or images that appear to contradict the statement. For example, a city's mayor might give a speech in which he claims that during his tenure, employment is at a record high in his city. A news outlet may replay that speech and follow up with footage of desperate men and women at the unemployment office, and perhaps even an interview in which the person is asked to comment on the mayor's speech. The interviewee in this case may be baited with questions that have very obvious answers such as, "The mayor says unemployment is a record low; how do you respond to that?"
Gotcha journalism may also be achieved by misleading an interviewee about which portions of his or her statements will be aired, or misleading the audience about how an expert opinion is acquired. For example, a special feature may be run on drug use in schools. To add sensationalism, an "expert" may be given manufactured statistics that indicate a three-fold increase in drug use is occurring in suburban schools, and asked to comment on what it might mean, if real. The expert may issue a statement such as, "If this were actually happening, this trend would be alarming - thank goodness it's not!" To discredit this expert, the whole clip may be aired, in which the reporter narrates, "We asked Dr. John Q. Smith to comment on drug use in American schools" followed by the clip of this quote, in which it appears that Dr. Smith is in denial over drugs in school. Alternatively, if Dr. Smith's quote makes the case that the reporter wishes to have made, the narration might state, "We asked Dr. John Q. Smith what he thinks of the increase in drug use and he said," followed by the section of the clip in which Smith says, "this trend would be alarming."
Manipulation of quotes, images, and archive footage is typical in the rigorous editing process, especially for news magazines, and does not cross over into gotcha journalism until there is a deliberate attempt to mislead an interviewee, expert, or the audience. Most commonly this manifests by finding footage of exceptions to a generalization given by a speaker or interviewee. For example, in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, a number of public officials gave public statements in which they stated that progress was being made. A number of news outlets aired the statements followed by footage of flooded homes, abandoned neighborhoods, and interviews with the many people still affected by the disaster for whom there clearly was no progress yet.
