during the most recent sarah palin/katie couric chatfest, couric – damn her! – asked one of those "gotcha!" journalism questions: what newspapers do you read?
please. i challenge anyone, anyone to defend palin's answer. i know you're out there and i know you're reading this. i also know YOU could easily answer this question. there are no politics here. there is no judgement. WHAT NEWSPAPERS DO YOU READ?
here's the transcript:
COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this — to stay informed and to understand the world?
PALIN: I’ve read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media —
COURIC: But what ones specifically? I’m curious.
PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.
COURIC: Can you name any of them?
PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news.
you're kidding, right? i read whatever newspapers are in front of me. what? what kind of answer is that? how about the anchorage daily news? do you read that? how about vogue? maybe the issue you were in? did you read that? what if no one put any newspapers in front of you? would you then just read the back of the cereal box, or your starbucks receipt?here's my answer. (i think palin could have said this and probably been fine. but hopefully her list would include a wider world view than mine. the jerusalem post, maybe. the daily star. and c'mon, she must read pravda or the moscow times, right? they're right there! they probably offer home delivery in alaska!)
COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this — to stay informed and to understand the world?:
CLEMENTS: you know, katie, i read a lot of newspapers online. the washington post, the washington times, the wall street journal, and the new york times. i also read the milwaukee journal regularly, the st. petersburg times, the chicago tribune and the chicago sun times too.now, i understand that, according to my list, my "world-view" might be a little u.s.-centric. but at least i have an answer. that includes a newspaper.
i read newsweek, time, and sometimes people magazine, rolling stone, billboard – to look at the music charts – and i often enjoy the new yorker.
out of the uk, i read the telegraph, the times and the financial times.
oh, and i regularly check roll call, the l.a. times, and usually a few smaller, hometown type papers from middle america like the akron beacon-journal, the spectrum out of st. george, utah, the cleveland plain-dealer (i know, not exactly small town) and the appleton post-crescent. sometimes i go looking for smaller small town papers too, to try and stay in touch.
what newspapers do you read every day?
Mostly just the funny pages. I find that the front pages of most newspapers just make me laugh too much...
ReplyDeleteI read the Washington Post online, Milwaukee J-S, sometimes the L.A. Times, NYT, and click on whatever articles look interesting on iGoogle and in people's blog posts. And that's why I'm always on the computer.
ReplyDeletei read the milwaukee journal sentinel, la times, ny times, any number of ny papers now that favre is playing for the jets, dozen of newspaper around the country because of my google alert for "favre" - i usually will check out their arts section as well, esquire, GQ, playboy, WSJ (sometimes), the socialist quarterly....(kidding)
ReplyDeletejeff, i bet you still read the waterford post. or...how about the emerald echo?
ReplyDeleteHmmm, let's see: JSOnline, NYTimes, LA Times, the UK Independent, UK's Guardian, Canada's Globe and Mail and the National Post, the Irish Times and the International Herald Tribune - but all online. Only Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in print (we used to get the Sunday NYTimes, but no time anymore).
ReplyDeleteI just read Tuesdays and let Tony do the surfing for me.
ReplyDelete