I’d like to follow up a bit on my post from the other day regarding the media and the Palin family and try and address some of the points raised in comments left by folks who are kind enough to read my blog.
I certainly agree that when someone takes on the challenge of running for public office, they and their entire family are going to be opened up to scrutiny – and that’s something that they should be prepared for and expect at the outset. The point I was trying to make in my post, however, was more a criticism of the media and their approach to this situation. I shouldn’t be surprised about it, and I’m not at all; by and large, today’s media is focused solely on ratings and the financial benefits reaped from their sponsors. However, I'm in many respects still an idealistic dreamer in lnoging for the days when they would focus on the candidates and the issues, not the candidates and their families. I haven’t one time heard any report about Governor Palin herself complaining about the coverage of her daughter’s pregnancy – all the complaints are coming from pundits and other media outlets, the same sorts of groups who complained about the coverage of Obama and Reverend Wright and the treatment of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.
Scrutiny of a candidate and his/her background is one thing; outright criticism and – in the case of the Daily Kos website, which out-and-out lied when stating that little five-month-old Trig Palin wasn’t even the son of the Governor, but rather of the daughter who is now pregnant – borderline slander is inexcusable. Gone are the days, apparently, where media coverage was driven by actual news and not by the ravings of folks who post on extreme, radical websites (left-wing and right-wing alike).
4 comments:
Daily Kos website.. now I get it Matt.. I guess I just don't read stuff there.. do you consider that site a part of the "Media"? Certainly not the main stream flavor.. right?
Did you see O'Reilly's Obama interview? Thought this first installment went well. The rest airs next week.
Guess I don't consider Bill, Rush or Keith mainstream either :)
Oh, thankfully I don't read stuff there either. Sadly, the fact that the media is even tracking those sites and talking about them (which is where I found out about it) seems to give it much more legitimacy than it deserves.
I did watch the first part; thought it went very well. O'Reilly (who I normally don't watch) seemed to hold back as much as he could, but still challenge Obama a bit. Looking forward to the remaining parts.
To me, Walter Cronkite and his generation were mainstream. Those days are long gone.
A few words about Daily Kos. It is a "website" but it's very open-ended community that grants its members broad permission to post their opinions. When I first learned of the Palin rumors (baby not Sarah's, etc.) I looked up the "diary" and saw that the person who wrote it was getting a lot of flak from other members who thought he had gone too far in peddling innuendo without any evidence. I caution against automatically discrediting anything you read or hear about that associated with Daily Kos simply thru guilt by association. It's obviously a partisan site but there's a lot of good writing and thoughtful essays to read there - including Julie Bogart's stuff. I am not active there, just to let you know.
I watched the O'Reilly clip as well and I have a hard time imagining him ever being as intrusive with Bush or Cheney or McCain as he was with Obama - beyond just tougher questions, he also interrupted and talked over Obama on several occasions, without letting Barack finish his sentences. Obama remained poised and made O'Reilly look like a chump anyway. I don't think Bill deserves many props for his conduct but I'm glad they both had a chance to sit down and talk.
O'Reilly is an ignoramous and rude!
And i hate to admit it but i agree with Matt Damon that McCain/Palin is starting to look like a bad disney cartoon.
Did you see her interview? the next VP and possibly President is going to be someone that doesn't know what the Bush Doctrine is? I guess they didn't get to that in her cram session on world politics 101. Now that she's done saying (lying) that she was against the bridge to nowhere - or will that be her mantra the entire election?
Sorry for the rant, i guess i should have done that over at my lace - but it is Joke Friday.
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