History
An early citation indicated that "gotcha journalism" was used by Stuart K. Spencer in the Los Angeles Times in 1987. The full story is given in the book Stick It Up Your Punter by Chris Horrie. The headline was also used in a 1994 movie about the newspaper business, The Paper, which was based in part on Horrie's book.
Former Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle reportedly referred to "gotcha journalism" in 1999 during an interview with talk-show host David Letterman.
During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Wall Street Journal columnist Gordon Crovitz suggested that the term "gotcha journalism" was used heavily by Republican campaign managers to diminish the credibility of journalists interviewing about the Iraq war.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been especially critical of "gotcha journalism". Her 2008 bid for Vice President was marred by numerous misstatements she blamed on gotcha questions. After she erroneously claimed in 2011 that Paul Revere warned the British before the Revolutionary War, she criticized the journalist who asked her the "gotcha" question.
Read more about this topic: Gotcha Journalism
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