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White House goes over the top in query of news photographer’s race
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Maybe it means something and maybe it doesn’t. Maybe was a telling example of a secretive administration’s fearfulness. Maybe it was just a simple mistake. Whichever the case, it also was an example of a newspaper courageously telling an overbearing official, in words made recently famous, to shove it.
The incident unfolded last week in Tucson, where Vice President Dick Cheney made a campaign appearance. The Arizona Daily Star, along with other media organizations, supplied information about the journalists assigned to cover the visit. The information, as always, included the journalists’ names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers. That’s all any self-respecting investigative agency needs to learn what it needs to know about potential security risks.
The Star supplied information about two people, a reporter and a photographer. Christine Walton, an organizer of the Cheney rally, then called the Star three times with a question. Specifically, she wanted to know the photographer’s race.
Three Star editors declined to provide that information. The paper’s managing editor, Teri Hayt, said, “It was such an outrageous request, I was personally insulted.” Hayt said never in her 26-year newspaper career has the race of a journalist assigned to cover an event been an issue.
Walton defended the request by saying the information was necessary to distinguish the photographer from someone who might have the same name. The name? Mamta Popat.
Of course — that’s it! There are so many Mamta Popats running around Tucson that they must be distinguished by race.
Or could it be that Popat was singled out because her name, which is of Indian origin, sounds vaguely, well, Middle Eastern? The White House denied that. But no explanation from the White House sounded remotely plausible to the Star’s editors.
After the Star arched its back, Walton called the paper back and said Popat probably could cover the event. Strange. Maybe inconsequential, in the grand scheme of things. No harm, no foul.
On the other hand, if the White House is so skittish it has to know the skin color of a photographer for a mainstream, regarded newspaper, paranoia may have bitten deeper into our psyche than anyone dares admit.
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