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.
“
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.
“
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.
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Sarah whines about the media again
On her Facebook page no doubt
“Let’s keep pivoting around media bias, and not get distracted with the vulgar personal shots. Call out lies and set the record straight, but always keep the ball moving. No one ever won a game only playing defense.”
Upon my return from an outstanding and productive trip to India and Israel, I’ve been inundated with requests to respond to petty comments made in the media the past few days, including one little fella’s comment which decent people would find degrading. (I won’t bother responding to it though, because it was made by he who reminds me of an annoying little mosquito found zipped up in your tent; he can’t do any harm, but buzzes around annoyingly until it’s time to give him the proverbial slap.)
I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I’d like to share my thoughts on the never-ending issue of media bias.
When it comes to responding to the media, the standard warning is: Don’t pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel because calling out the media and holding them accountable is a risky endeavor. Too often the first instinct is to ignore blatant media bias, crudeness, and outright lies, and just hope the media instigator will grow up and provide fairer coverage if you bite your tongue and not challenge the false reporting of an openly hostile press. But I’ve never bought into that. That’s waving the white flag. I just can’t do it because I have too much respect for the importance of a free press as a cornerstone of our democracy, and I have great respect for the men and women in uniform who sacrifice so much to defend that First Amendment right. Media, with freedom comes responsibility.
Friends, too often conservatives or Republicans in general come across as having the fighting instinct of sheep. I don’t. I was raised to believe that you don’t retreat when you’re on solid ground; so even though it often seems like I’m armed with just a few stones and a sling against a media giant, I’ll use those small resources to do what I can to set the record straight. The truth is always worth fighting for. Doing so isn’t whining or “playing the victim card”; it’s defending the truth in fairness to those who seek accurate information. I’ll keep attempting to correct misinformation and falsehoods about myself and my record, and I will certainly never shy from defending others who are unfairly attacked. This is in the name of justice.
But two decades in politics have taught me that when it comes to picking battles, often it’s best to ignore the truly petty, ugly personal media shots because engaging in a counter argument with disreputable, intolerant people doesn’t vindicate me; it merely gives those people the attention they seek. It wastes my time and it distracts from what we should focus on.
We must always remember the big picture. The media has always been biased. Conservatives – and especially conservative women – have always been held to a different standard and attacked. This is nothing new. Lincoln was mocked and ridiculed. Reagan was called an amiable dunce, a dangerous warmonger, a rightwing fanatic, and the insult list goes on and on. (But somehow Reagan still managed to win two major electoral landslides, and this was in the days before the internet and talk radio when all he had were three biased network news channels spinning reports on him. If he could do so much with so little and still be such an optimistic and positive leader, then surely we can succeed with the new media tools at our disposal.)
Let’s just acknowledge that commonsense conservatives must be stronger and work that much harder because of the obvious bias. And let’s be encouraged with a sense of poetic justice by knowing that the “mainstream” media isn’t mainstream anymore. That’s why I call it “lamestream,” and the LSM is becoming quite irrelevant, as it is no longer the sole gatekeeper of information.
Let’s keep pivoting around media bias, and not get distracted with the vulgar personal shots. Even with limited time we can try to call out lies and set the record straight, but always keep the ball moving. No one ever won a game only playing defense.
I’ll keep correcting false reporting, and I’ll defend others to the hilt; but I won’t spend any more precious, limited time responding to personal, vulgar, sexist venom spewed my way.
Today, our country is faced with seemingly overwhelming challenges. We have an unsustainable and immoral $14 trillion debt problem which, combined with a self-inflicted energy crisis, could bring America to her knees. The President of the United States is manipulating an energy supply by refusing to develop our U.S. energy resources. Shouldn’t that be the media’s focus today? Wouldn’t you like more information on the deficit that for last month alone was the highest in our history at $223 billion? That single month’s deficit was more than the entire deficit for the year 2007! We still have a 16% real unemployment rate. We had 2.9 million home foreclosures last year alone, with this year predicted to be even worse. Americans who are struggling to make ends meet are now hit by rising food and energy prices – exacerbated by the Fed’s decision to drop that $600 billion money bomb known as QE2 on us. Gas has already hit $4 per gallon in some areas. And let’s not forget that our men and women in uniform are deployed far from home today. From Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, to who-knows-where tomorrow under a clouded, confused Obama Doctrine, our armed forces are in harm’s way, defending our interests and protecting our freedoms.
Now these are the real concerns to Americans. These are times when real leadership is needed. We must never be distracted from these real concerns.
Petty comments from the small-minded are used to distract. Stay focused, America. Don’t wave any white flag. Simply put, let’s spend our precious time on causes that are worthy.
- Sarah Palin
Sarah if you don't want people criticizing or scrutinizing you stay out of the public eye. I have never seen a politician whine as much as you do. Even Hillary Clinton didn't whine as much.
“Let’s keep pivoting around media bias, and not get distracted with the vulgar personal shots. Call out lies and set the record straight, but always keep the ball moving. No one ever won a game only playing defense.”
Upon my return from an outstanding and productive trip to India and Israel, I’ve been inundated with requests to respond to petty comments made in the media the past few days, including one little fella’s comment which decent people would find degrading. (I won’t bother responding to it though, because it was made by he who reminds me of an annoying little mosquito found zipped up in your tent; he can’t do any harm, but buzzes around annoyingly until it’s time to give him the proverbial slap.)
I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I’d like to share my thoughts on the never-ending issue of media bias.
When it comes to responding to the media, the standard warning is: Don’t pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel because calling out the media and holding them accountable is a risky endeavor. Too often the first instinct is to ignore blatant media bias, crudeness, and outright lies, and just hope the media instigator will grow up and provide fairer coverage if you bite your tongue and not challenge the false reporting of an openly hostile press. But I’ve never bought into that. That’s waving the white flag. I just can’t do it because I have too much respect for the importance of a free press as a cornerstone of our democracy, and I have great respect for the men and women in uniform who sacrifice so much to defend that First Amendment right. Media, with freedom comes responsibility.
Friends, too often conservatives or Republicans in general come across as having the fighting instinct of sheep. I don’t. I was raised to believe that you don’t retreat when you’re on solid ground; so even though it often seems like I’m armed with just a few stones and a sling against a media giant, I’ll use those small resources to do what I can to set the record straight. The truth is always worth fighting for. Doing so isn’t whining or “playing the victim card”; it’s defending the truth in fairness to those who seek accurate information. I’ll keep attempting to correct misinformation and falsehoods about myself and my record, and I will certainly never shy from defending others who are unfairly attacked. This is in the name of justice.
But two decades in politics have taught me that when it comes to picking battles, often it’s best to ignore the truly petty, ugly personal media shots because engaging in a counter argument with disreputable, intolerant people doesn’t vindicate me; it merely gives those people the attention they seek. It wastes my time and it distracts from what we should focus on.
We must always remember the big picture. The media has always been biased. Conservatives – and especially conservative women – have always been held to a different standard and attacked. This is nothing new. Lincoln was mocked and ridiculed. Reagan was called an amiable dunce, a dangerous warmonger, a rightwing fanatic, and the insult list goes on and on. (But somehow Reagan still managed to win two major electoral landslides, and this was in the days before the internet and talk radio when all he had were three biased network news channels spinning reports on him. If he could do so much with so little and still be such an optimistic and positive leader, then surely we can succeed with the new media tools at our disposal.)
Let’s just acknowledge that commonsense conservatives must be stronger and work that much harder because of the obvious bias. And let’s be encouraged with a sense of poetic justice by knowing that the “mainstream” media isn’t mainstream anymore. That’s why I call it “lamestream,” and the LSM is becoming quite irrelevant, as it is no longer the sole gatekeeper of information.
Let’s keep pivoting around media bias, and not get distracted with the vulgar personal shots. Even with limited time we can try to call out lies and set the record straight, but always keep the ball moving. No one ever won a game only playing defense.
I’ll keep correcting false reporting, and I’ll defend others to the hilt; but I won’t spend any more precious, limited time responding to personal, vulgar, sexist venom spewed my way.
Today, our country is faced with seemingly overwhelming challenges. We have an unsustainable and immoral $14 trillion debt problem which, combined with a self-inflicted energy crisis, could bring America to her knees. The President of the United States is manipulating an energy supply by refusing to develop our U.S. energy resources. Shouldn’t that be the media’s focus today? Wouldn’t you like more information on the deficit that for last month alone was the highest in our history at $223 billion? That single month’s deficit was more than the entire deficit for the year 2007! We still have a 16% real unemployment rate. We had 2.9 million home foreclosures last year alone, with this year predicted to be even worse. Americans who are struggling to make ends meet are now hit by rising food and energy prices – exacerbated by the Fed’s decision to drop that $600 billion money bomb known as QE2 on us. Gas has already hit $4 per gallon in some areas. And let’s not forget that our men and women in uniform are deployed far from home today. From Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, to who-knows-where tomorrow under a clouded, confused Obama Doctrine, our armed forces are in harm’s way, defending our interests and protecting our freedoms.
Now these are the real concerns to Americans. These are times when real leadership is needed. We must never be distracted from these real concerns.
Petty comments from the small-minded are used to distract. Stay focused, America. Don’t wave any white flag. Simply put, let’s spend our precious time on causes that are worthy.
- Sarah Palin
Sarah if you don't want people criticizing or scrutinizing you stay out of the public eye. I have never seen a politician whine as much as you do. Even Hillary Clinton didn't whine as much.
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