A Day in the Work Life of Michelle Fields

The Daily Caller’s Michelle Fields, a “serious video journalist,” went to the National Press Club on Tuesday for a luncheon featuring NASCAR driver Danica Patrick. Why was Michelle there? Who the hell knows? In what is a new low, even for the self-loving Fields, her entire “report” consists of one 25 second video with an 8 second intro and 5 second outro. That means this obvious Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece is all of 12 seconds long. But a lot can happen in 12 seconds, right? Here’s what there was time for: Michelle screwing up the only question she appears to ask, a simple one at that, and a short answer that was edited, for reasons unknown. That’s it, that’s all there is. I don’t know about you, but I can sleep easier tonight knowing what a race car driver I never think about thinks about an important constitutional issue of contraception. (BTW, if you’re getting your political tips or news from any celebrity, do the country a favor and don’t vote.) And how does a 12 second video require an edit? If you ask someone one question, why not post their entire answer? Considering the question was clearly designed to create controversy and not report on an existing one, why not show the whole thing? I have no reason to believe it was edited unfairly, I just find it odd that it was edited at all. Michelle’s “report” contains a whopping 53 words. However, if you subtract the 4 in “Videography by Sarah Hofmann,” and the 13 in the written version of the Patrick quote, you’re looking at 36 original words from Michelle for this piece. Eat your heart out, Edward R. Murrow. They published the post on Tuesday at 10:57 p.m. According to the time stamp, it was updated the next day at 1:32 p.m. What needed updating in a 36-word post remains as big a mystery as why this post exists in the first place. But “Scoop” Fields wasn’t done there. The budding, um, whatever she is, was hot on the trail of another person in need of being asked a question – MSNBC’s Chris Matthews... “Scoop” tracked down the un-elusive host of the low-rated Hardball at a public forum at Ford’s Theater to ask what he thought of his hero JFK’s affair with then-intern Mimi Alford, because JFK being a sleazy womanizer is new and all. The headline is a giveaway as to what the “journalist” wanted: “Matthews to sexually assaulted JFK intern: Shut up.” The “report” consists of a 53-second video this time, only 19 seconds of which is Matthew’s actually talking. There’s the 8-second intro, the 5-second outro, and 19 seconds of Michelle fumbling through her question. Strangely, the video does not contain the words “shut up” like the headline does. Nor does it contain any mention that Alford, while shocked by the late President’s actions, was of age and a willing participant, not a “sexual assault victim.” Matthews does call it disturbing. And it ends abruptly with him wondering why Alford wrote the book, saying, “I didn’t know about the particulars of this case that were pretty graphic and pretty awful. I do wonder why she wrote the book though. I don’t think many people are going to buy it. I don’t think it’ll sell at all.” That’s not exactly “shut up.” And the video doesn’t leave you with the impression that Matthews was done answering the question. So why stop it? On the word-count front, “Scoop” brought her A-game to this post. She stepped it up to 209! (That might be a record for this “journalist,” we’re still waiting for the official ruling from the Guinness people.) But that number falls dramatically when you remove the quotations and videographer credit (I left in the “Matthews saids” because she did actually write those) to 129. I would say Murrow is spinning in his grave, but he’s spun so much over these posts that he’s left his grave and is steadily drilling his way to China. Fields has a willingness to ask the occasional uncomfortable question (though not in this case), which means she has the potential to be good. But just like how Barry Bonds had the potential to be a Hall of Fame baseball player without steroids, potential will only get you so far if you aren’t willing to work at it. Being female has gotten you called a "c--t" in an OccupyDC video. Being pretty may get you booked on TV and a manifesto from a convicted rapist serving time, but it won't get you respect.

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A Day in the Work Life of Michelle Fields

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