STOP THE PRESSES! The Daily Mail’s US political editor has an incredible scoop! REVEALED: voxpopping teenagers doesn’t automatically produce slickly-articulated soundbites.
In a spectacularly unclassy act of journalistic ingratitude, David Martosko decided to mock a teenage interviewee by posting a screenshot of her reply to his question about Donald Trump nicknaming Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas” (which he does to mock her claims to Native American heritage).
“This is a verbatim transcript of her answer,” Martosko crowed about the child who took the time to speak to him for his article:
At the Elizabeth Warren rally I asked a 17-year-old supporter who will vote next year to comment on Trump’s “Pocahontas” nickname for the senator. This is a verbatim transcript of her answer. pic.twitter.com/qg0LI2BkzA
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) May 17, 2019
Presumably what Martosko found so hilarious was the universal truth that humans use vocal tics and very rarely speak in full sentences unless they are media-trained. And, uh, perhaps aren’t 100 per cent confident and comfortable when speaking to journalists (particularly if their response is to deride them…).
As Melissa Ryan of the pressure group Hope Not Hate summed up Martosko’s mockery: “Area reporter upset that a random teenager does not have talking points memorised.”