Palin Objects To Media Bias



Sarah Palin objects in this recent documentary interview to the way her and her family were treated in the national media during the election campaign.

Conservative talk show host and documentary filmmaker John Ziegler is determined to prove that Barack Obama won the 2008 election because of media bias, and that "the media assassination of [Sarah Palin], her character and family, was one of the greatest public injustices of our time.”

Ziegler does have a point that class bias was at work:

It's difficult to tell from the brief clips to what extent Ziegler may have been prompting Palin for answers that would support his thesis of "class bias" producing a media "double standard." In one case, however, when Ziegler asked about Caroline Kennedy's interest in the New York Senate seat, Palin definitely did appear to be following his lead.

"I've been interested also to see how Caroline Kennedy will be handled," Palin stated, "and if she'll be handled with kid gloves or if she'll be under such a microscope also. ... We will perhaps be able to prove that there is a class issue here also that was such a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy."

In the media, liberals and progressives have often relied on irony and satire to make their case (e.g., The Daily Report, Tina fey, etc.). Class bias seeps in there, for sure. What I find most interesting is how effective these tools have been against Palin. Even the international audience has been fascinated by the entire spectacle.

Palin is no doubt still most angry with the 'anonymous blogger' smear regarding who was Trig's mother, which forced the McCain/ Palin campaign against their better judgment to announce Bristol Palin's pregnancy. The Trig allegation appeared for a day over at the Daily Kos and quickly disappeared. I'd like to think they pulled the allegation for lack of credible sourcing, but the utter lack of explanation for their actions makes me think someone there (not necessarily at the top) knew exactly what they were doing (or else they got lucky). Someone pulled on a thread and unravelled a tapestry.

Nevertheless, Palin goes too far with the outrage. She asks:

"When did we start accepting as hard news sources bloggers, anonymous bloggers especially? It's a sad state of affairs in the world of the media today, mainstream media especially, that they're going to rely on bloggers, anonymous bloggers, for their hard news information."

HELLO?! The 24-hour Cable TV universe long ago created a perfect smear hothouse environment. The Republicans, in particular, have relied heavily on anonymous smear merchants, first with regard to Whitewater, then to a bevy of false scandals during the Clinton Administration, and then delegated the smear to the right blogosphere. In some situations, like the Wen Ho Lee case, people were falsely imprisoned for years and had their careers ruined. In others, like the Plame case, valuable intelligence assets were ruined and American spies in Iran were likely killed. Indeed, smear was institutionalized, with the Drudge Report serving as the de facto national assignment editor for the entire MSM. The entire MSM!

Now, having created a perfect media monster, the Republicans have seen it break its chains and start damaging their own. Where was the outrage when it would have helped? We need another novelist of Mary Shelley's capacity to do the matter justice. For now, we have to content ourselves with Paddy Chayefsky's "Network".