Friday, July 10, 2009

Media Bias Mea Culpa

Reporter admits media bias against Palin.

Sarah 'Barracuda' Palin and the Piranhas of the Press

A good article with many examples from other journalists.

Some quotes:

"But the true villains in this political morality play may have been the press."
"Our journalism model is busted, too."
"In the 2008 election, we took sides, straight and simple, particularly with regard to the vice presidential race."
"What I am saying is that we simply didn't hold Joe Biden to the same standard as Sarah Palin, and for me, the real loser in this sordid tale is my chosen profession."
"From the beginning, and for the ensuing 10 months, the coverage of this governor consisted of a steamy stew of cultural elitism and partisanship."
"Women columnists turned on Sarah Palin rather quickly. A plain-speaking, moose-hunting, Bible-thumping, pro-life, self-described "hockey mom" with five children and movie star looks with only a passing interest in foreign policy -- that wasn't the woman journalism's reigning feminists had envisioned for the glass ceiling-breaking role of First Female President (or Vice President). Hillary Rodham Clinton was more like what they had in mind – and Sarah, well, she was the un-Hillary."

"The first thing reporters and commentators seemed to have noticed about Gov. Palin was her physical beauty. The second was that she had a bunch of kids, the last one born with Down's syndrome in spring 2008. For some reason, these two facts infuriated many Democratic activists and bloggers – and some liberal journalists."

"This proved a harbinger, too, as misinformation slipped easily from the left blogosphere into mainstream coverage."

"The Times, for example, which found the alleged transgressions of an actual presidential candidate (John Edwards) unworthy of investigation, managed to find room for three Page One stories touching on the sex life of a vice presidential candidate's daughter."

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