Quote of note:
Transcript of McKinney comments
Published on: 04/23/06This is the partial transcript of a question and answer session held Saturday in Chamblee with Congresswoman Cynthia Mckinney. She regularly holds such sessions in her district. This session was taped by CBS 46 news. .
Question: has anyone asked you about your confrontation with the Capitol police officer?
Answer: Actually you, media, are the only ones who are asking about that.
Question: I'm sure you thought about this — potentially someone might ask you about this, outside of the media, about the confrontation — what would your response be, how do you explain it to the people of DeKalb County?
Answer: Well, actually no one has asked me other than you and so... I talk to my constituents about the things that are on their minds...
Question: Do you think the incident will affect your chances for re-election?
Answer: You're talking about the incident I'm talking about issues.
Question: You want to talk about issues, has the confrontation made it harder for you to focus on the issues? Has it been a distraction?
Answer: You're a distraction because that seems to be all you want to talk about — but people here understand that my representation is much larger than any discreet incident
OFF CAMERA, WITH MIKE STILL ON:
"This is crap — they lied to Coz and Coz is a fool for believin' 'em. [Referring to aide Coz Carson]
"Anything that is captured by your audio while I'm not seated in this chair is off the record and is not permissible to use — is that understood?
TV station catches gaffe by McKinney
Congresswoman berates staffer as tape rolled after interview
By BRIDGET GUTIERREZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/24/06
Move over Britney Spears, Cynthia McKinney's — oops! — done it again.
The flap-plagued congresswoman, who has been in the media spotlight since she scuffled with a Capitol Hill police officer last month, was caught bad-mouthing a senior staffer Saturday.
Unfortunately for McKinney, a DeKalb County Democrat who is running for re-election in the 4th Congressional District, a TV microphone she was wearing picked up her indelicate grumbling.
"Crap!" an irritated McKinney is heard saying after ending an interview with CBS 46 in which reporter Renee Starzyk repeatedly asked about the fallout from the police dust-up. "You know what? They lied to Coz and Coz is a fool."
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I believe that since I used
I believe that since I used to be in the business of feeding and caring for politicians that I have a better understanding of Re. McKinney's response than does Bridget Gutierrez. When you are a staffer for an elected official and you are contacted by a media outlet because it wants to interview your boss you had better make damn sure that the reporter is on the up and up. That's part of your job. If you have the slightest doubt(s) about the motives of the reporter, then you tell your boss that the interview would not be a good idea and you tell your boss why you feel that way. You don't schedule or insist that your boss do an interview because you owe a reporter a favor or because you think the reporter is cute or because you personally want the reporter to owe you a favor. You do it because it benefits your boss and the constituents your boss is supposed to serve.
There is nothing even remotely objectionable, in my opinion, about Rep. McKinney's remarks about her staff person. She is simply saying that he was a fool for believing that CBS 46 was going to interview her about something other than her confrontation with a Capitol Hill cop. Her staffer failed to cover her back and she got ambushed as a result.
I know that. The killer is
I know that. The killer is the way the newspaper spins her response.
...as opposed to
and
...as opposed to
I have a hard time--a
I have a hard time--a really, really hard time--believing that this would be a story if the representative involved was anyone other than McKinney. The TV news organization is willing to put their reputation at risk just to catch McKinney calling somebody "fool"?
There's no mistaking the context: McKinney is saying she and her staff were misled about the content of the interview. The station is willing to put that impression before the public just so they can play Gotcha with McKinney?
That doesn't seem smart at all.
They wanted her angry enough
They wanted her angry enough to say something foolish. And they didn't get it. So the newpaper have to, well, lie.
After all it worked last time.
I sent an email to Bridget
I sent an email to Bridget Gutierrez that was nearly verbatim to the message I initially posted here.
Here is her response:
Dear Mr. ----,
Thank you for your e-mail. I just wanted to point out one thing that you may have missed in the story: The TV station said McKinney's office knew the congresswoman would be questioned about the Capitol Hill incident. According to them, this was not an "ambush" as you put it.
Thanks again for taking the time to write. If you are interested, I suggest you send your comments to our Letters section (letters@ajc.com) and they may appear in a future edition of our newspaper.
Sincerely,
Bridget Gutierrez
Education Reporter
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What I found interesting was Ms. Gutierrez's clear acceptance of CBS 46's statement about what it claims Rep. McKinney was told about the interview. This is "gotcha" journalism of the worst sort. In fact, it seems as if the CBS affiliate and the Atlanta Journal Constitution were in partnership. Why is a television station, for example, interviewing an elected official about an incident that occurred three weeks ago and for which she has apologized at least twice for?
Local television news is about the most recent murder or house fire or the poor tabby that got stuck in a tree and had to be rescued by the local fire department. I am having a hard time understanding the news value of this story to a television station unless it was doing a follow-up profile story about McKinney as she travels around her district. If Channel 46 was doing this kind of story then the incident with the policeman would be only one of several topics about McKinney that would be covered.