An AP reporter has been awarded $500 for “tracking down” Levi Johnston, the fiance of Bristol Palin, Sarah Palin’s daughter. In a memo to AP staffers, AP Senior Managing Editor Mike Silverman, tells the exciting story of the reporter’s enterprise:
Adam Goldman, a reporter in the New York City bureau on assignment in Anchorage, set out to get Johnston’s story. First, though, he had to find him.
Johnston was spending most of his time at the Palin compound. But that was protected by the Secret Service, so the place was off limits.
Goldman repeatedly went to Johnston’s home in Wasilla. No luck.
He identified the homes of Johnston’s buddies and went there. No luck.
He pulled speeding and hunting tickets, learned the make and model of Johnston’s truck and went back to the house in Wasilla. Still not there.
Then, as Goldman left the neighborhood, he spotted the truck, quickly went back to the house and found Johnston in his driveway.
Finally, he agreed to talk. …
For his dogged pursuit of an exclusive interview with one of the most elusive personalities of this presidential campaign, Adam wins this week’s $500 prize.
This is the kind of twaddle news organizations share among themselves to pat themselves on the back and pretend they have to overcome serious obstacles to “get the story.” Interesting that the Palin’s middle-class home is called a “compound” (I thought those were only in Hyannisport).
To the untrained eye, the above might sound a lot like stalking.
