News commentary

Two presidents, two female reporters and two revealing nicknames

Poynter · Roy Peter Clark · last updated

This is the story of a 10-year-old St. Petersburg girl named Bonnie Harris, who would one day become a reporter covering the presidential campaign of George W. Bush. When Bush learned she was from Florida, he gave her a nickname: “Sunshine.”

Contrast that with a recent moment involving another female reporter and another American president. When Bloomberg News White House correspondent Catherine Lucey asked President Donald Trump a question he did not like, he shut her down with, “Quiet, Piggy.”

Two Republican presidents, two female reporters, two nicknames. And two very different visions of presidential character.

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