The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
Working as the "Associate Producer" of Peter Robinson's Uncommon Knowledge after college, I was privileged to watch almost every interview that Peter conducted over a twenty month time span, live from the control room. As regular viewers of the program can attest, Peter has great chemistry with his guests, making it seem as though he's known them for years (just disregard the fact that he has known many of them for years). What you don't see is that Peter spends five to ten minutes with the guest behind the scenes as they get their hair adjusted and their microphones situated, during which he asks the guest about his or her children and relates an amusing anecdote that he knows will put the guest at ease. This, folks, is a master interviewer in action. A tense interviewee makes for a dreadful interview.
On the other hand, witness how not to conduct an interview. Below, an excerpt from Andrew Goldman's tense interview with Arianna Huffington that is set to appear in the New York Times Sunday magazine. Goldman's questions appear in bold.
You’ve been saying recently that The Huffington Post is not a lefty publication?
Actually I’ve been saying that for three years. The tag line that we’ve used a lot is “Beyond left and right.”Three years ago was 2008. I looked at The Huffington Post a great deal during the election. It felt like the Internet version of Keith Olbermann’s show, and if that’s not lefty...
Why don’t you be more specific? What were the messages that you considered lefty?It’s as if you’re trying to tell me that Smurfs aren’t blue.
I’m just telling you that it is very clear that we have progressive views, but to call everything we’re doing lefty — it misses the whole point that American policy needs to be redefined beyond left and right. It’s a completely obsolete view of politics.Still, I’m amazed you’re trying to tell me that The Huffington Post wasn’t started as a lefty blog?
I’m not trying to tell you anything. I’m telling you things. I’m not trying, O.K.?I was depressed to read the internal AOL memo that leaked just before it bought your site. It stated that the company wants 95 percent of stories to be written based on what people are searching for. It also said that writers must choose the topics they cover using “the profitability consideration.”
You’re asking me to defend a document that precedes me. It is very, very, very far away in terms of where the company is now. Tim [Armstrong] would not have bought The Huffington Post if he did not believe that at the heart of The Huffington Post Media Group is great journalism.
The New York Times accusing the Huffington Post of being lefty. Now if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black...
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Dec '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
The NYT doesn't think it is leftist either.
HuffPo probably doesn't think it's a lefty site because it is a smidgen to the right of DailyKos and the Democratic Underground. The NYT is a smidgen to the right of all of them. But they are all well left of center.
Bernard Goldberg described the liberal media's self-delusion in Bias. If they can identify anyone to the left of them they think they are mainstream.
Jul '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
Ariana is living in a fool's paradise.
Jul '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
As a moderate, I can attest that all of these are well to my left. Note that the left routinely repudiates their leftness. I don't recall Reagan ever running from the labels Conservative or right-wing.
Oct '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
I'm not one to try to go after people personally but I just don't trust anything she says. I remember when she was a libertarian watching her speak at the Green Party conventions and now she's a progressive? I'm still on the fence about whether her accent is even real. I would love to hear what her voice sounds like after waking her up at 3 in the morning.
By the way, Diane, I love the program and have watched it for many years. I wish it was on the air getting more circulation. Why did Peter change sides at the table for the latest interview? Is that going to be a permanent change? My other question is how big is the room?
Dec '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
Whenever I listen to Ariana speak I expect to hear the theme music from "Green Acres" come on. I think she's Eva Gabor's stunt double...
Nov '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
The fact is, most people who are on the left don't want to be considered on the left. They don't like names like liberal and conservative. That is because the average American doesn't like the left. Liberals know that, and so need to hide their true agenda. I read, I think on the The DC, the title of one of their blogs, "Liberals want conservatives to shut up, and conservatives want liberals to keep talking." Exactly. Show the people just how liberal you are, it's great for us.
Oct '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
Well, to be fair, there are some neo-liberals on the site, like Jeffery Sachs (who mostly seem to spend their time sucking up to the lefties). I suppose they want to rehabilitate themselves in the eyes of American Progressives. It's a little disgusting. By no means are they truly "left", though, even if they are saying so for the moment. I mean, these are the people who guided Russia, Poland, and the rest of Eastern Europe into capitalism.
Mar '11
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
They don't consider themselves as left-wing; they think of themselves as sane. This lets them automatically disregard the very notion that someone could genuinely disagree with them. If someone doesn't think the same way they do its because they either have a nefarious hidden agenda or are insane. But the Huffington Post as centrist? I don't smurfing think so!
May '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
"I’m just telling you that it is very clear that we have progressive views, but to call everything we’re doing lefty, it misses the whole point..." It is obvious to me that Ariana suffers the delusion of most people of extreme political views...that somehow only other views are extreme, and theirs are simply moderate. Thus the HP's "progressive views" are not "lefty", but moderate and mainstream.
May '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
The NYT is jealous of HuffPo, deep down inside. They wish they could be so overtly crazy leftist, have a burgeoning, angry, unhinged readership and then get bought out by some internet conglomerate.
I heartily agree, Diane, about Peter's magic touch with interviewing. You can tell that he's one of those people who is very interested in other people and wants to draw out the best in them.
When you mentioned awkward interviews, my mind went immediately to this one. It's more in line with how I'd conduct interviews.
Mar '11
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
I have always loved the blackness of the set and the intimacy of the sound, the brevity of the segments, but mostly the megawatts of insight and knowledge that are surgically extracted by Peter's perspicuous curiosity.
Sep '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
Crabtree: I don't smurfing think so! · Apr 1 at 7:05pm
Smurf yeah!
Jul '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
FeliciaB: The NYT is jealous of HuffPo, deep down inside. They wish they could be so overtly crazy leftist, have a burgeoning, angry, unhinged readership and then get bought out by some internet conglomerate.
I heartily agree, Diane, about Peter's magic touch with interviewing. You can tell that he's one of those people who is very interested in other people and wants to draw out the best in them.
When you mentioned awkward interviews, my mind went immediately to this one. It's more in line with how I'd conduct interviews.
Running an awful, bone crunching deficit the Times spends $50M on a pay wall made of tissue. Right now they envy anyone who has ever done the Web without totally screwing it up.
Edited on Apr 1, 2011 at 8:34pmJun '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
FeliciaB:
When you mentioned awkward interviews, my mind went immediately to this one. It's more in line with how I'd conduct interviews. · Apr 1 at 7:47pm
"Awesome!" Thanks for the link Felicia... hilarious.
Dec '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
It is the "Nobody I know voted for Nixon" syndrome. They live in an insular world where they are mainstream. They do not understand that their mainstream is the country's left.
May '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
We've got a president who managed to get elected by hiding what he really believes.
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
bereket kelile:
By the way, Diane, I love the program and have watched it for many years. I wish it was on the air getting more circulation. Why did Peter change sides at the table for the latest interview? Is that going to be a permanent change? My other question is how big is the room? · Apr 1 at 5:05pm
Bereket, I haven't worked on the program for a few months now so I'm not sure why Peter changed sides at the table on this latest interview. The room of the set is probably 12' x 16'.
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
Diane,
You're completely right about Peter's talent and the hallmarks of a good interview in general. What stuck out in this exchange even more than Goldman's abrasiveness, however, was Huffington's response. You can tell from the text that she's irritated -- and that's usually an emotional state that leads you to be curt and direct with people. Yet she still resorts to vacuous pieties about being "beyond left and right". That indicates something more troubling than just being evasive ... it means she actually believes her own spin.
Feb '11
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
My first encounter with Arianna Huffington (not a personal encounter, merely in the public realm) was years ago (1994) when she, along with Wm. F. Buckley Jr., Helen Alvare, and Elizabeth Fox-Genovese argued for the affirmative in a debate on Resolved: That the women's movement has been disastrous. Arguing in the negative were Betty Friedan, Karen Burstein, Camille Paglia, and Kathryn Kolbert. I can't find a video link, but the archived info is here. I did not track her afterward, and when I found her running the HuffPo some years later, I could not believe it was the same woman. What a chameleon!
May '10
Re: The Huffington Post Isn't Lefty and Smurfs Aren't Blue
Dave Molinari
FeliciaB:
When you mentioned awkward interviews, my mind went immediately to this one. It's more in line with how I'd conduct interviews. · Apr 1 at 7:47pm
"Awesome!" Thanks for the link Felicia... hilarious. · Apr 1 at 8:42pm
I'm glad to oblige, Dave.