While governor of Alaska she tried to control the media.
From Poynter.org
When Sarah Palin was asked in a 2008 CBS interview what newspapers she regularly read, the Vice Presidential candidate famously was unable to name any.
But last week’s release of Palin’s emails from her partial term as Alaska’s governor suggests she was highly aware of what was being written about her — at least in her own state’s newspapers and in local blogs.
Her messages show that Palin sought to influence media coverage, counter negative stories, and — on at least one occasion — investigate a blogger who criticized her.
“She was pretty well tuned in to what was in the paper or on the website that related to her interest,” Anchorage Daily News Executive Editor Patrick Dougherty said in a phone interview this week. “I don’t know if that was because people were calling her attention to things or she was finding them on her own.”
Dougherty recalled that Palin came into office in 2006 with a “great attitude” and made a strong impression in her first meeting with the Daily News editorial board. But by the end of her two and a half years in office, Dougherty said Palin changed significantly, as she became nationally prominent and faced increased scrutiny over her record.
“Whatever impulse she had toward being open and honest was overtaken by her desire to avoid or deflect or rebut criticism,” Dougherty said.
The newly-revealed messages show that the Daily News – Alaska’s largest newspaper — was a particular irritant to Palin and her staff.
For instance, in April 2008, the paper reported that Palin’s office harvested email addresses from a state database to contact more than 22,000 business owners and urge them to support part of Palin’s legislative agenda. A story by Daily News writer Wesley Loy quoted several legislators criticizing Palin’s “political” use of the database.
That prompted a strong response from Palin’s press secretary, Rosanne Hughes. In an email to Palin, Hughes called Loy “an unprofessional, ignorant reporter,” and she recommended that the Governor stop granting him interviews.
“I’m used to working with mean, nasty, ugly, unpleasant journalists before on Capitol Hill (esp. the New York Times) but at least I could respect them professionally,” wrote Hughes, who had previously worked for Republican members of Congress. “At least they were good journalists. This guy, sorry, I can’t say that about him.”
Palin answered with just two words: “Amen sista!”
Loy – now a freelance journalist and blogger — said this week he remembered a disagreement with Hughes about the 2008 story. But he didn’t know the article caused such a stir among the governor’s staff until an acquaintance told him about Hughes’ email a few days ago.
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I laughed out loud when I saw it,” Loy told me. “That’s part of the job.”
Concerns about bloggers and reader comments
Of course, it’s not unusual for politicians to tussle with journalists who cover them. The candid correspondence of many officeholders is likely filled with similar invective toward the press.
But Palin’s emails show that she also was conscious of what was being written about her in new media platforms such as blogs.
In a January 2008 exchange with some of her aides, she fretted about an anonymous blogger who seemed to have access to her administration’s press releases and was using them to criticize her policies.
“Makes me sick to my stomach,” Palin wrote. “How would this blogger have received the emailed presser unless he’s a valid media person (and why would a legit media person bother to be a regular blogger?), or one of our folks sent it to him?”
Palin aide Frank Bailey informed her that it would be easy for a “mole” to get on her press release distribution list. “They probably just emailed and asked to get on it,” Bailey wrote. (It’s not clear from the emails if the Administration ever learned the blogger’s identity.)
Later in 2008 – less than two months before she was named John McCain’s running mate — Palin expressed outrage about a reader who frequently posted in the “comments” section of the Anchorage Daily News website. Among the posts that the Governor called “hateful and hurtful” was one that alleged she had an affair with her husband’s best friend.
“Ok dokay (sic) – enough is enough,” Palin wrote to Hughes and other aides. “It’s flippin unbelievable that the ADN allows lies like this to be posted. I’m calling.”
“
Governor, do you know how loved you are?” Hughes responded. “It hurts my heart to hear these horrible people are bringing you down. We forgive them, Lord. Help these people come to know You.”
Dougherty – the Daily News executive editor – confirmed that Palin called him about the questionable posts and he immediately deleted them.
Palin later asked her staff to have her “security guys check into” the person who posted the comments — Sherry Whitstine of Wasilla. (Whitstine told the New York Times in 2008 that one of Palin’s aides called her and demanded she “stop blogging right now.”)
While Palin and her staff may have been repulsed by some of the coverage and comments they received from the Daily News, they also worked to make sure their own point of view was expressed in the paper and on its website.
During a controversial special legislative session in April 2008, Hughes noted that Palin was “getting pounded” on the blogs, and she urged her fellow staff members to mobilize the Governor’s grassroots supporters.
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We need to get them out there FLOODING that Anchorage Daily News Alaska politics blog. I mean FLOODING,” Hughes wrote.
On a somewhat less weighty issue, Palin took matters into her own hands, writing her own rebuttal to a July 2008 Daily News letter-to-the-editor that criticized her for skipping that year’s Miss Alaska pageant.
But she asked her staff to find somebody else to sign her response.
“I’m looking for someone to correct the letter writer’s goofy comments, but don’t want the letter to ADN in response to come from me,” Palin wrote. (The newspaper published the response with Hughes’ signature.)
“A pretty darn good relationship”
In contrast to Palin’s current image as an adversary of what she calls the “lamestream media,” her emails suggest that she often granted press requests as governor. Her schedules show she sometimes did several interviews a week with local reporters, as well as occasional interviews with national media organizations such as NBC, Forbes magazine, and Bloomberg News.
Even Wesley Loy — the former Anchorage Daily News reporter who inspired such strong criticism from Rosanne Hughes — said he found Palin to be accessible and accommodating during her years in Juneau.
“I don’t remember her having anything but a pretty darn good relationship with reporters at the time that she was Governor,” Loy said, adding that he noticed no difference in the way she treated him even after Hughes suggested Palin stop granting him interviews. “She always gave me all the access I asked for.”
Palin eagerly jumped at a chance to appear on Anderson Cooper’s CNN program in December 2007 (An aide assured her it would be “a great opportunity.”), while in June 2008, she made the rounds of several cable talk shows to discuss oil and gas drilling.
A member of her administration suggested she’d especially enjoy appearing on Glenn Beck’s show, because, “He loves to make fun of everyone and is incredibly good natured. You should laugh a lot with him.”
And then there was this 2007 request from a producer at “The Big Wild Radio Show,” a syndicated program about outdoor recreation:
“We would like to interview Sarah in regards to her fishing experiences,” wrote producer Jon Schoepke.
“The Big Wild has been in syndication for five years and we pride ourselves in being total screw ups! Unlike most outdoors shows we are NOT experts, we laugh at our shortcomings.”
Palin responded quickly from her Blackberry: “This sounds fun! I’d do it.”
Is she really that paranoid of what people think of her? Just imagine if she were in the WH and banned every media outlet except for FOX, National Review, WSJ, Newsmax, and News Busters.
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