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Oops!: Ohio reporter gets the wrong Hillary on the line
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In the reporter's defense
Posted by Jacob Resneck 3/25/2008 5:16:13 PM

With many in the press using "Hillary" as short-hand for Sen. Clinton, perhaps the reporter merely had "Hillary Clinton" on the brain when he encountered this particularly Hillary.

Allow me to explain: As a reporter, I once misidentified a federal agent named Colin Smith as "Colin Powell" (then-Secretary of State) and it made it into print.

Just a hunch.

actual convo
Posted by Hillary Viers 3/25/2008 4:20:40 PM

The actual conversation went like this:

my cell phone rings (the cell phone that's listed on every press release I send out, along with my full name. Again, this is NOT the office phone. this is my cellphone. I give this number to reporters.)

I answer: This is Hillary
reporter: Hillary?
me: yes?
reporter:Oh, hi. I was calling to ask about Charlie Wilson's Economic Tour.
me: Great, what can I tell you?

And then, all of his questions were about my boss' econ tour. I had no inkling he thought I was anybody other than who I am. I am constantly sending this paper press releases. He never asked me about the presidential campaign. Had he, I would have been able to correct his misunderstanding. He did ask me if I would be with Charlie for the rest of Charlie's economic tour. That's a normal question - reporters often want to know if they can reach the press contact after an interview. "Yes," I said. "I'll be with Charlie all week, here in Ohio."

The entire phoner lasted about 5 minutes.

What the reporter did was silly. But what the editors did - letting this through the pipeline and into print - was indefensible. Wouldn't any editor wonder why Senator Hillary Clinton was back in town when the primary in Ohio was history? Wouldn't they wonder what Clinton was doing spending four days with a freshman Congressman from OH? Wouldn't they question why she wasn't spending those four days in PA? When she regularly has thousands at her events, wouldn't they wonder why she was so excited about 85 in an office? With a few keystrokes their suspicisions would have been confirmed if they had just gone to the Senator's website. She was in Washington, D.C. on that day.

A lot of folks have picked up on this unbelievable error, and frankly, I can't explain it either and I was one of two people involved in the phone conversation. The other was the reporter. Poor guy.

Original story....
Posted by Jim Romenesko 3/20/2008 1:49:57 PM

I've added a link to the original piece.

Article Anyone?
Posted by Scott Schwebke 3/20/2008 1:27:43 PM

Can anyone post the original article? I would love to see it.

Hello Senator
Posted by Michel Marizco 3/19/2008 4:02:22 PM

I don't understand. I mean, isn't it safe to assume that the dialogue went something like:
Him: "So, Senator, do you still think you'll beat out Obama for president?"
Her: "What in the world are you talking about? This is Hillary Wicai!"
Him: "Oh, sorry."

I can see a movie in this ...
Posted by Jim McCartney 3/19/2008 3:50:46 PM

"Charlie Wilson's Flak"

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