@Tippi Hedren: Yes, but could she overemote like Ann Curry? Could she express bottomless depths of faux-sympathy with a head tilt? Can she pretend to get outraged?
How about just interviewing her on the huge strides she is making on an international level on our country's behalf? How about asking her about health care battle and how it compares to hers nearly 20 years ago? How about discussing the plight of women across the world as opposed to the "marginalization" of one of the highest ranking women in today's politics?
I think it's a reflection of the times, which are aggressively polemic and anti-intellectual. You don't ponder world events and their meaning. You come up with an issue that is divisive and play the two sides against each other. Then, someone wins, and someone loses. Voila! There's your journalism. And you didn't even have to leave your desk.
@drinkwater: As a journalist, I'm going to take issue with "you didn't even have to leave your desk." I agree with everything else you said, and I hate that there is no room for in-depth coverage of events that aren't simply black and white. (It also doesn't help that Americans are so addled with their videogames and their crap reality TV and their brain-numbing movies that they can't even understand nuance.) But please do keep in mind that, especially in print journalism, there is no money anymore. Staffs have been cut back to absolutely nothing, and those of us who are left have neither the funding nor the ability to "leave our desks," as we are all doing the work of three or four reporters. As for the pay cuts we've taken, that's probably irrelevant to this conversation, so I won't go there. Oh, wait, I just did.
@ihateyourescalade: I hear you. The two trends -- both the economic hardships of modern journalism and the modern intellectual laziness -- re-enforce each other.
I'm going to assume that Ann Curry had more than one assistant to help her prepare the topic. She could have chosen better questions and simply did not.
P.S. I love your name if it's what I think it's about.
I've always felt that she must KNOW someone in the business, because she certainly didn't get where she is on her own. Her interviews are always painful to watch.
@ihateyourescalade: Perhaps so, but I feel that her style of "journalism" would be much more suited to The View. Or she could just switch places with Hoda.
@Tippi Hedren: It's not just her interviews; whenever she ad libs she comes off as a bit of an airhead.
Also, and this is a personal pet peeve of mine, she routinely refuses to eat even one bite of the delicious things that celebrity chefs make in the studio because she doesn't eat carbs.
Helen Thomas kicks ass seven ways from Sunday. I love that she is patient when interviewed, even in the face of inane questions, but always acts like she'd much rather be the one doing the interviewing. Which is the attitude of any good journalist.
i thought ann's questioning of that sextortion dude's lawyer was about as direct as possible - it was probably the first time ann did an interview and didn't ask a cringe-inducing question. there are plenty of interviewers who do that.
ted koppel is the master. barbara walters is alright - she gets too precious in her delivery. with oprah, she's a good interviewer in that she'll softball, but only to a point. she lost a bunch of points when she asked the olsen twins what they ate for breakfast, though. stupid ass question. charlie rose is good, but let's face it, he's got, like, half an hour for his interviews, and that's just the part they show.
I love Helen Thomas. She reminds me so much of my abuela, both in looks and disposition.
And I want to defend Ann Curry, but after watching the whole video, she comes off as kind of patronizing. Helen's old, but she's clearly not stupid. "I want to die with my boots on" clearly means with her pen in hand, Ann.
@freckles: I guess that means I'll never work on the Today Show (breaks down, weeps). Seriously, even when I was a stupid cub reporter, it would not have occurred to me to ask that question. I mean, what kind of answer are you expecting to get?
She's a classy dame. I want to write a musical about her. It might be called "Classy Dame." It would fall somewhere between Golden Girls, The Man Who Came To Dinner, and The Music Man.
"The Shortest Distance Between Two Points" would be a great title for an inspirational belter to close the first act.
"And I will ask the questions!
And I will find the truth!
Because the shorteeeeeeest
Distaaaaaaance
Betweeeeeeen twoooo pooints...
Is a straight liiiiiiiiiiiine!"
ba bada ba baaaa! Bum.
when i was about 11 years old, my family and i took a trip to washington d.c. when we were visiting the white house, she was leaving it. my parents took a picture of her and she chatted with them a bit. i was too young to realize who she is. but now, i think she's so awesome.
@teenypanini09: My dad saw her on a plane about a year ago. He is really tall and he leaned down quietly and said, "Keep giving 'em hell, ma'am." He said she just smiled and said, "I will." LOVE.
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It's not easy being Ann Curry. #todaydeidrashores
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ERGH!
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I'm going to assume that Ann Curry had more than one assistant to help her prepare the topic. She could have chosen better questions and simply did not.
P.S. I love your name if it's what I think it's about.
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Also, and this is a personal pet peeve of mine, she routinely refuses to eat even one bite of the delicious things that celebrity chefs make in the studio because she doesn't eat carbs.
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ted koppel is the master. barbara walters is alright - she gets too precious in her delivery. with oprah, she's a good interviewer in that she'll softball, but only to a point. she lost a bunch of points when she asked the olsen twins what they ate for breakfast, though. stupid ass question. charlie rose is good, but let's face it, he's got, like, half an hour for his interviews, and that's just the part they show.
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And I want to defend Ann Curry, but after watching the whole video, she comes off as kind of patronizing. Helen's old, but she's clearly not stupid. "I want to die with my boots on" clearly means with her pen in hand, Ann.
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What the hell kind of question is that?
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"The Shortest Distance Between Two Points" would be a great title for an inspirational belter to close the first act.
"And I will ask the questions!
And I will find the truth!
Because the shorteeeeeeest
Distaaaaaaance
Betweeeeeeen twoooo pooints...
Is a straight liiiiiiiiiiiine!"
ba bada ba baaaa! Bum.
Curtain.
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