LAST WEEK, GAWKER.com ran an anonymous, first-person story from a Philadelphia man who had a one-night stand with Christine O'Donnell, the Republican candidate for Senate in Delaware. "We'd probably knocked back five Heinekens when Christine leaned over and whispered in my ear that she wanted to go back to my place," the author writes.
There are lurid details in the story. They, for the record, did not have sex, according to the story.
The O'Donnell team responded by saying that "such attacks are truly shameful." Her opponent's team responded by saying, “It’s cowardly and despicable that they would publish this garbage.”
Is this newsworthy?
(the image is via Gawker.com)
19 comments:
It is totally newsworthy. It is timely, relevant, shocking, and human interest considering she's a very "unique" candidate for Senate. Her extreme views would never cause anyone to believe she engages in one-night-stands.
I think the story is awesome.
This article is composed of a few photos of a seemingly drunk Christine O'Donnell and the work of some pathetic douche bag who couldn't even sleep with her.
Whether or not Christine O'Donnell has extreme conservative views, this article is a cheap shot. It's not Watergate, it's just a ball-breaker. Although O'Donnell should have been more careful in regards to allowing pictures to be taken of her, she doesn't deserve to have her career be ruined because Gawker needed a good story. Let's face it, this is prime political gossip: Young conservative Republican candidate for Senate is caught acting like a drunken mess. It doesn't get much better than that. My guess is that anybody who hates Christine O'Donnell (which is a crap load of people) will use this story to justify the fact that she doesn't deserve a spot in the Senate. And even worse, the men and women who have her vote (or who are considering voting for her) who find out about her "escapade" will be sure to think twice before sending O'Donnell to Washington.
Let the woman lose based on her political views, not because of some drunken one-night stand she had three years ago.
First off, after reading the article, it doesn't even appear to have been a "one-night stand" at all. Getting physical yes, but when I hear "one-night stand" I'm assuming things went a lot further than they did here.
Second, the article itself is garbage. It's completely lurid - I don't need to know the condition of Ms. O'Donnell's nether regions. Yeah, I don't like O'Donnell's platform and I think she's totally unqualified for the office she's running for, but even *I* feel bad for her here.
And, honestly, who among us hasn't had a stupid incident like this happen to us? This is her personal life we're talking about here. If she was doing it while being on the clock at a job, yeah, this would be a story (minus the obscene nature of some parts). This was on her own time and presumably on her own dime. I would hate to have someone call up my ex-girlfriends for opinions on me.
This is garbage, not news.
Unfortunately, at least for O'Donnell, this is newsworthy. It's sooo controversial. I personally don't base my vote on a candidate's sexual background, but you'd be surprised at how many people do. So what?? She got busy. Who cares right? A lot of people do. It sucks that this is what's out there, but she opened herself up to things like this when she stepped into the limelight. If she's smart...she'll take a stand on something that really matters to voters and this will fade away.
Garbage Garbage Garbage. Who the hell cares about Christine O'Donnell's one night stands? What does her sex life have to do with her as a politician? This story makes me sick. The fact that people are actually interested in this stuff also makes me sick. The one article talked about how hairy she was "you know where". That is just non-sense and cruelty. This story is just based on some doucebag's word. This story makes me hate the world a little bit more.
It is irrelevant in my opinion. People have one night stands all the time so, what makes this anonymous person special? I just think people say things for attention. If I were Christine O'Donnell's team, I'd just shake my head.
While I agree with the first commentator in saying that this pathetic story unfortunately is still newsworthy because it fits under so many of the criteria, I personally do not care to read it. I feel that Gawker.com writing and posting a story this stupid makes them look like a really juvenile news source that cares too much about gossip and not enough about cold, hard facts. While I do not care at all for O'Donnell, I also think that the magazine claiming that their anonymous source had a "one-night stand" with her is a total lie, because the man admits that they did not have sex (and everyone knows that is what saying "one-night stand" implies).
I believe this story is definitely newsworthy. It follows many of the news criteria such as timeliness, unusual, prominent figures and even relevance. This story is interesting and definitely captures the audience which is one of the goals of the news. Journalism is a business and by presenting these kind of stories it will increase the number of viewers, which is exactly what news programs strive for.
People are making valid points that Ms. O'Donnell's position as a public figure makes this newsworthy, and if the article had been written to journalistic standards it may have been.
Do we have an attempt to balance the article by getting input from Ms. O'Donnell? No.
As a matter of fact, is there even a quote in the story, aside from the anonymous author? No.
Is the event newsworthy? Maybe. But as written, this is uncorroborated, anonymous and and unbalanced. Seriously, guys, Professor Miller would fail you if you turned this in as an assignment :)
Yes, this story fits the criteria in many more ways than one. It is timely and involves a prominent figure and is quite unusual. Stories like this are not frequent so I do not find it hard to believe that a gossip site would post this. It also seems relevant that this story came out the week of election day. Like we say over and over again journalism is in fact a business and this further proves that idea.
This story is newsworthy just because of the fact that she is running for senate and it fits the majority of the criteria. Other than that...who cares... I am sure there are plenty of students on campus who have been involved in one night stands that actually had sex. O'Donnell isn't a priest and can have sex with whoever she wants.
If this story were true, it would certainly be considered newsworthy. Since she is a public figure, sueing the author wouldn't be as easy for her. The story came out at the perfect time and portrayed an image so far from the one she tries to fit that it seems risky. I think it is cheap news. If someone needs to create a story about almost sleeping with a political candidate (or anyone for that matter) it shows that they're not a skilled journalist. His credibility not just hers, will be flushed.
This is not newsworthy for a major newspaper, radio station, or television station, however, for Gawker it is. This is what Gawker does, so it shouldn't be a surprise. O'Donnell is a public figure. She should expect that these type of things will pop up during her career being in the public eye. I personally don't think this story is really that great because its meant to reveal that she had a one night stand but she didn't so it takes all the "excitement" and curiosity away. I'm sure plenty of the politicians that are serving now had one night stands or similar occurrences as O'Donnell but just haven't been publicized.
This story may, unfortunately fit the criteria for being newsworthy. However, it is sheer garbage and sleeze and makes me happy that the election is over. Maybe this would be cause for outrage if it had been printed in a major newspaper or a respected publication but on gawker.com...not so much.
Technically, it is "newsworthy," but I find it to be slightly sexist and very tacky to post such a story. I feel this man involved just wanted attention and was mad because she did not want to have sex with his slimy-self. REJECTED.
If we are going by the newsworthiness criteria this is technically news, but if in general- this is not news at all. Who is to say that this person didn't make this up because he is not in favor of the Tea Party and their candidate.
She has ruffled some feathers with things she has said and things she has done in her past, which have all held a rain cloud over her head. Though people might not have like things she has done or said, printing this story was just tasteless. There needs to be a line drawn, by the editor, for what is relevant and what is not. All this did was add to her somewhat damaged reputation.
I don't think it matters if the person people want to lead them had a one night stand once. it is newsworthy because of the technical criteria, but it doesn't change people preconceived views on her
This is newsworthy information; not only because she is a prominent person running for office, but because of the its timeliness and uniqueness. Stories like these are facinating to other audiences; therefore, it should be publicized.
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