Progressive Alaska has been highly critical of the role the Anchorage Daily News has taken in fluffing up Sarah Palin. I've written about how disturbed media around the country has been about Palin's pivotal role in the dark forces unleashed by some of her adherents at rallies, and how bothersome it is that the ADN has yet to address that. I've written that had the ADN covered any of a number of issues connected to Palin's political ascendancy in Alaska, she probably wouldn't have been a VP pick. One issue I cited, was her role in the need for Alaska HB 270, back in 2000. Back in 1999 and 2000, the ADN neglected covering Palin's policy of deleting payment for forensic exams for sexual assault victims from the City of Wasilla budget. Palin, in late September, issued a non-denial. She has yet to be asked, point blank, "Did you, as Wasilla mayor sign city budgets that did not include a line item for the expense of forensic exams of sexual assault victims? [the answer is "yes.] What role did you play in this policy's formulation? Could you characterize any discussions on this you might remember?
Palin's media blitz this past week, both up here in Anchorage and Wasilla, and at the Republican Governors' Conference in Florida, has brought out new waves of derision of our Governor, as she has strengthened her creds as the biggest political joke of the 21st century. There has been no shortage of brilliant analyses of her continuing blunders and shameless selfishness. My favorite short take on how she comes across to millions, is by Andrew Sullivan, in an essay he wrote Wednesday:
Let's be real in a way the national media seems incapable of: this person should never have been placed on a national ticket in a mature democracy....The impulsive, unvetted selection of a total unknown, with no knowledge of or interest in the wider world, as a replacement president remains one of the most disturbing events in modern American history. That the press felt required to maintain a facade of normalcy for two months — and not to declare the whole thing a farce from start to finish — is a sign of their total loss of nerve.
....This deluded and delusional woman still doesn't understand what happened to her; still has no self-awareness; and has never been forced to accept her obvious limitations. She cannot keep even the most trivial story straight; she repeats untruths with a ferocity and calm that is reserved only to the clinically unhinged; she has the educational level of a high school drop-out; and regards ignorance as some kind of achievement. It is excruciating to watch her — but more excruciating to watch those who feel obliged to defend her. [emphasis added by PA]
So far, the Anchorage Daily News continues to play a key role as some sort of gatekeeper. With a great bunch of reporters and such top investigative help as Richard Mauer and George Bryson, the ADN certainly has the talent to write a far more accurate and insightful portrait of a person of such "obvious limitations."
Many people have cited how watching her on the national stage gives them the same fascination as watching a train wreck happen. And the humor element of her inanity is almost precious, for sure. The most recent example is from her interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer:
BLITZER: Does that mean you want to come up with a new Sarah Palin initiative that you want to release right now.
PALIN: Gah! Nothing specific right now. Sitting here in these chairs that I’m going to be proposing but in working with these governors who again on the front lines are forced to and it’s our privileged obligation to find solutions to the challenges facing our own states every day being held accountable, not being just one of many just casting votes or voting present every once in a while, we don’t get away with that.
Just another of her many, many Miss South Carolina moments.
Larry King asked Palin about her presidential aspirations:
KING: All right. You were a step away. As you look at yourself, think about it, are you ready to run for the presidency? Is that something that would interest you? You?
PALIN: Again, I'm not going to close any doors of opportunity that perhaps are open out there in the future. Not having a crystal ball, I do not know what those opportunities will be. If I have to call an audible down the road here and circumstances change and the door is open for me to do so, it would be something that I would take that challenge on, that responsibility.
So, our responsibility to help get an in-depth, accurate portrait of this ambitious politician out there, is immense.
The bottom line for me, on why it is important to get the truth out on Palin, is quite serious. When she was selected by McCain as his running mate, Alaska progressive bloggers sought to truthfully get the word out on how truly unfit for national office she is. Over the course of the campaign, as we worked with many Outside journalists, we discovered more about her, reinforcing our already solid opinions. But it became more serious as we were able to witness the rising levels of hatred shown by some of her most partisan and fierce adherents.
Every day, new examples of the relationship between Obama hatred and Palin's vitriol are written about in the on-line press. Yet Alaska's journal of record refuses to even address this.
I feel ashamed. Who knows, maybe the fine ADN reporters will convince their incredibly negligent publisher and senior editors, that the paper owes it to the country to stop fluffing and softballing this enormously polarizing figure.
6 comments:
One at a time over the past two months I have subscribed to US papers online so I won't miss a thing, inspite of being over 6000 miles away from the front lines of this incredible political skirmish.
Every morning then, I wake up to find updates from the ADN, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal (to name a few) in my inbox.
I always read the ADN first, because it's rather like the sugary doughnut you have with morning coffee. You know it's not going to provide much nourishment, but it tastes so good you just can't resist. Then I go on to the other papers, where there's more of a chance of being fed the meat and potatoes of the political news my brain needed in the first place.
It's as if the ADN has a completely different perspective on 'what is news and how should we report it' then the entire rest of the country. Or planet.
Example:
The ADN refers to Ted Stevens as Senator Ted Stevens (who happened, rather unfortunately, to have been convicted of crimes he's appealing but that's ok because he's our guy). All other media refer to him as Convicted Senator Ted Stevens, guilty of 7 felonies and who is not going to be allowed to serve if elected again.
These felonies were against Alaskan citizens. His being blackballed from the committees is going to negatively impact on those citizens. One would think the Alaskan newspaper would come to the defense of it's subscribers by showing a hint of outrage.
(One would also think that Sarah Palin, as your governor, would be busy trying to regain some of that budget. No, wait, she's off giving speeches again, running for yet another job she is not qualified for.)
The ADN talks Sarah Palin with a 'well bless her heart for trying' sort of air while other media across the globe just shake their heads and wonder... how on earth did she - a self-procalimed public speaker who cannot put a simple sentence together - get this far in the political arena?
One can only surmise that if the ADN had been accurately reporting the Perils of Palin from the beginning of her mayorship - that she would never have been unleashed on an unsuspecting world.
Personally, I miss Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein. They would have dug at the Sarah Palin truth until their knuckles bled and fought their editor until the true story was printed.
Lynn-in-Australia
The editor's name is Pat Dougherty and I think he's primarily responsible for the newspaper's content.
What is an "Outside journalist?" Assume it means "journalist not from Alaska?"
Smacks a little of the other, which is a little like McCain calling Obama "That One" or Palin talking about the "Real America."
Anyway, absolutely agree that the mainstream press gave Palin a nearly complete pass. And that from all appearances, she's shrewd, manipulative and ruthless, but not smart. At all.
anon @ #3 - the term "Outside" or "outside" for people from the lower 48 has been used in Alaska millions of times. I didn't use it as a pejorative term, and, although it often is used to diss outsiders, I've seldom seen it used in a way like you describe - "smacks a little of the other." First time I've read somebody pointing that out here, though...
Well I'm not a journalist, but I am 'Outside'. And from my perch, it's a useful term as it helps me get my bearings on who is saying what to whom.
My take is that Mr. Munger (and other bloggers I read who refer to anyone outside Alaska as anything from lower 48 to global contributors) use it in a claritive sense, not a demeaning one and I can't imagine anyone on the 'Outside' being offended.
I tell you who might be offended - Hawaii. They keep getting left out as hardly anyone in Alaska ever says 'the lower 49' or 'the lower 48 plus Hawaii'.
*giggles*
Lynn-in-Australia
If you don't like the paper, don't read it. It's not like it's a government institution. It doesn't hold any responsibility in society. It's a business owned by a big company. Read or watch something else if you don't like the ADN. You've got a blog. Why don't you report stories that you think are important rather than criticizing everybody else? Try your hand at objective journalism.
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