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Barbara West (TV news anchor)

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Barbara West is a television journalist and news anchor for WFTV in Orlando, Florida.

Personal life

West attended the University of Vermont. While there, she won the 1969 Miss Vermont contest and was selected to represent her state in the national Miss America competition. She later obtained a Master's Degree from the University of Vermont. Before starting her career in television news, she was an assistant professor at the University of Vermont.

West's husband Wade West is a media trainer who has consulted for Republican candidates and donated money to Republican campaigns. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Barbara is a registered Republican. This has led left-leaning 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. (See 2008 presidential race interviews controversy)

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.

West makes only two specific claims in the beginning of her WFTV.com biography. Those claims were that her work has taken her to President Bush's inauguration and to President Clinton's impeachment.

Barbara West has served as health reporter and anchor for WFTV's news at noon and 5:30 for the past 16 years.

2008 presidential race interviews controversy

On October 23, 2008, Barbara West interviewed the Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden with questions she personally wrote. West asked Biden if he was "embarrassed" about Barack Obama's affiliation with ACORN, allegations of voter registration fraud by ACORN in elections past, comparing Obama's response to a question from Ohio voter "Joe the Plumber" to a quote from Karl Marx, and suggesting that Obama was a Marxist who wants to turn 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.

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." A subsequent interview with the candidate's wife, Jill Biden, was cancelled. Obama's Florida spokeswoman, Adrianne Marsh, called Biden's interviewer, Barbara West, "both combative and woefully uninformed about simple facts."

WFTV's news director defended West, saying she had not been inappropriately tough, but some media commentators criticized her performance by comparing it to her interview with Republican candidate John McCain when she had asked him questions such as "Why haven't you gone after 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?".

Republican Ties

Portfolio.com has reported that West's husband Wade West is a media trainer who has consulted for Republican candidates and donated money to Republican campaigns.

References

  1. WFTV's Barbara West on Joe Biden interview: "I am not trying to seek the limelight in any way" Oct 27, 2008 Orlando Sentinel
  2. Bercovici, Jeff. Local Newslady Goes All Roy Cohn on Biden. Portfolio.com. October 26, 2008.
  3. WFTV's Barbara West on Joe Biden interview: "I am not trying to seek the limelight in any way" Oct 27, 2008 Orlando Sentinel
  4. 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
  5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6-DQmC5vU8
  6. ^ "Official bio". WFTV. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  7. "Official biography". WFTV. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  8. ^ "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).
  9. "Biden to Florida news anchor: 'Are you joking?'". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  10. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/orl-a2backstage2508oct25,0,5927037.column
  11. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/26/biden-laughs-off-questions-of-obamas-marxist-principles/
  12. http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2008/10/26/local-newslady-goes-all-roy-cohn-on-biden
  13. Zaleski, Katharine. Biden Slammed During Florida Interview, Same Anchor Gives McCain Softballs. The Huffington Post. October 25, 2008.
  14. http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2008/10/26/local-newslady-goes-all-roy-cohn-on-biden

External links

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