Barbara West (TV news anchor)
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Barbara West is a television journalist and news anchor for WFTV in Orlando, Florida.
Education
West attended the University of Vermont and obtained a Master's degree. While there, she won the 1969 Miss Vermont contest and was selected to represent her state in the national Miss America competition. Before starting her career in television news, she spent some time at the university as an assistant professor.
Journalism career
West was principal assistant to Peter Jennings while he was anchor for ABC's World News Tonight in London. She helped cover such stories as the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana and the Iranian Hostage Crisis.[1] Barbara West has served as health reporter and anchor for WFTV's news at noon and 5:30 for the past 16 years.[1]
On the official biography page for Barbara West on WFTV.com, she lists her first two specific accomplishments as covering the inauguration of President George W. Bush and covering the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. [2]
Political views
West's husband Wade West is a Republican strategist, who contributed $2,250 to Republican candidates from 2000 to 2006.[3][4] West herself is also a registered Republican. [3] This has led some blogs and the MSNBC television program Countdown with Keith Olbermann to question whether West has had a conflict of interest in her presidential candidate interviews. [5][6][7]
2008 presidential race interviews controversy
On October 23, 2008, Barbara West interviewed the Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden with questions she personally wrote.[8] West asked Biden if he was "embarrassed about Barack Obama's affiliation with ACORN," allegations of voter registration fraud by ACORN in elections past, likening Obama's response to a question from Ohio voter "Joe the Plumber" to a quote from Karl Marx, and asked how Obama's views on distributing the wealth differed from Marxism and asked if Obama's view might lead the U.S. "into a socialist country much like Sweden." At one point during the interview, Senator Biden asked West if she was joking, and later suggested she was offering "talking points" against Barack Obama.
Her reference to Sweden as a socialist is surprising, given her background in London. Sweden is a capitalist country with publicly funded school and university systems, along with health care.
The Obama campaign responded saying "This campaign has now spanned 21 months and Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Joe and Jill Biden have done countless tough interviews and they've answered every single question. Let's be clear: This station's interview with Joe Biden wasn't tough -- it was just absurd."[8] A subsequent interview with the candidate's wife, Jill Biden, was cancelled.[9] Obama's Florida spokeswoman, Adrianne Marsh, called Biden's interviewer, Barbara West, "both combative and woefully uninformed about simple facts."[10]
WFTV's news director defended West, saying she had not been inappropriately tough,[11] but some media commentators criticized her performance by comparing[12] it to her interview with Republican candidate John McCain when she had asked him questions such as "Why haven't you gone after [Obama] on these serious issues of voter registration fraud and the mortgage crisis?" and "Do you feel that the Democrats are trying to paint you into a box — in other words, make it impossible for you to criticize Sen. Obama?".[8][13]
On October 27, 2008, Barbara West interviewed the Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain. West asked McCain about alleged in-fighting between his own staff and that of Sarah Palin and whether it was indicative of Palin's belief that the ticket is not going to win, the strength of McCain’s own campaign, why independent analysis showed that Joe the Plumber would do better under Obama's tax plan, and whether the wealthy really need tax cuts. McCain requested West not say "anything mean" or else he "may get angry."[14]
West has been described as "coming from a point of view similar to Sean Hannity's or Rush Limbaugh's."[3]
References
- ^ a b "Official bio". WFTV. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
- ^ http://www.wftv.com/station/1874549/detail.html
- ^ a b c Boedeker, Hal. WFTV's Barbara West on Joe Biden interview: "I am not trying to seek the limelight in any way". Orlando Sentinel. October 27, 2008. Cite error: The named reference "boedeker" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Bercovici, Jeff. Local Newslady Goes All Roy Cohn on Biden Portfolio.com. October 26, 2008.
- ^ http://www.bluetidalwave.com/2008/10/conflict-of-interest-orlando-journalist.html "Orlando TV "Journalist" Barbara West's Husband is a GOP Media Consultant" Oct 25, 2008, Blue Tidal Wave
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6-DQmC5vU8
- ^ http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2008/10/26/local-newslady-goes-all-roy-cohn-on-biden
- ^ a b c "Obama Campaign Responds To "Absurd" WFTV Interview Of Joe Biden". WFTV. Retrieved 2008-10-27. Cite error: The named reference "officialResponse" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "Biden to Florida news anchor: 'Are you joking?'". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
- ^ http://www.orlandosentinel.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/orl-a2backstage2508oct25,0,5927037.column
- ^ http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/26/biden-laughs-off-questions-of-obamas-marxist-principles/
- ^ http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2008/10/26/local-newslady-goes-all-roy-cohn-on-biden
- ^ Zaleski, Katharine. Biden Slammed During Florida Interview, Same Anchor Gives McCain Softballs. The Huffington Post. October 25, 2008.
- ^ http://www.wftv.com/video/17810719/index.html
External links
- WFTV biography
- WFTV - Joe Biden interview
- WFTV - John McCain interview