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What John King should have asked Newt Gingrich
Gingrich: The wrong question
Steve Cohen
"Your ex-wife said that you asked for an open marriage," moderator John King of CNN said to Newt Gingrich at the start of Thursday's South Carolina Republican presidential debate. "Would you like to take some time to respond to that?"
Gingrich responded by denouncing the question. "The destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office, and I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that," Gingrich told King, to cheers from the Charleston audience.
As a former journalism student, I agree with Gingrich: It was a terrible question— but not for the reason Gingrich cited.
When I took Radio 101 at Temple University years ago, John Roberts taught us that reporters need to be confrontational. He also taught us never to begin an interview with a question that can be answered with a "yes" or a "no."
Rather, a competent reporter would have opened with something like this: "Many people say that what goes on in a marriage isn't a public concern. But you, sir, have said otherwise, in your attacks on President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky controversy, and in this campaign where you stress family values and say you are the most conservative candidate. How do you explain this contradiction?"
Or how about this: "In light of your espousal of the "'sacrament of marriage,' how do you justify cheating on your first wife and rejecting her for another woman, and then doing it all over again with a third woman?"
Or this: "Many people get divorced. But your ex-wife says you asked her not for a divorce but for an open marriage. How do you justify the more serious matter of trying to coerce one's wife into accepting an arrangement in which the husband has sex with multiple women?"
And, as a follow-up: "When your second wife said you asked her for an open marriage, was she lying?"
Where is Edward R. Murrow when we really need him? Or even Ted Koppel?
Gingrich responded by denouncing the question. "The destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office, and I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that," Gingrich told King, to cheers from the Charleston audience.
As a former journalism student, I agree with Gingrich: It was a terrible question— but not for the reason Gingrich cited.
When I took Radio 101 at Temple University years ago, John Roberts taught us that reporters need to be confrontational. He also taught us never to begin an interview with a question that can be answered with a "yes" or a "no."
Rather, a competent reporter would have opened with something like this: "Many people say that what goes on in a marriage isn't a public concern. But you, sir, have said otherwise, in your attacks on President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky controversy, and in this campaign where you stress family values and say you are the most conservative candidate. How do you explain this contradiction?"
Or how about this: "In light of your espousal of the "'sacrament of marriage,' how do you justify cheating on your first wife and rejecting her for another woman, and then doing it all over again with a third woman?"
Or this: "Many people get divorced. But your ex-wife says you asked her not for a divorce but for an open marriage. How do you justify the more serious matter of trying to coerce one's wife into accepting an arrangement in which the husband has sex with multiple women?"
And, as a follow-up: "When your second wife said you asked her for an open marriage, was she lying?"
Where is Edward R. Murrow when we really need him? Or even Ted Koppel?
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