COMMENTARY
Pergament: In covering Palin, media is just doing its job
Updated: 09/05/08 9:47 AM
To paraphrase the line made famous by the late Ronald Reagan, there they go again. The Republicans are attacking the media and using the “L” word— for Left Wing — to criticize the treatment of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
A former journalism student at the University of Idaho, Gov. Palin should know the charge is hogwash. The media has just been doing its job covering the issues surrounding her surprising choice as Sen. John McCain’s running mate, and it doesn’t have much time to do it.
Since so little was known about Palin before she was chosen, it is the media’s duty to discover what she’s about. In a sense, they are investigating or vetting her in the same way — possibly a more thorough way — that McCain’s team did.
The “L” word that is more appropriate is “legitimate.” The legitimate issues surrounding her firing of a public safety official in Alaska and the possible strains that running for vice president could have on her family life weren’t invented by the media.
Perhaps the most controversial parts of media coverage have been the questions raised about her decision to run with a 4-month-old baby with special needs and a pregnant, unmarried 17-year-old daughter who may need some extra attention.
Raising the issue has led to Republican suggestions that the media is being sexist. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh has led the charge, defending Palin’s decision by saying she wouldn’t want her daughter to live with costing her mother the nomination.
In a speech to the New York delegation, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that no one is asking Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama if he has “time to be a father and president.”
That isn’t exactly the issue. Sen. Obama doesn’t have five children, a child with special needs or a pregnant teenager who has enough to deal with without being thrust in the national spotlight. If he did, the same questions might be raised.
The questions about Palin’s decision to run weren’t raised out of thin air. They were on the minds of voters, many of whom are women. It is the media’s duty to address the issues and let voters decide if they have relevance.
When Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer recurred, the media thoroughly and appropriately examined the decision of then Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards to stay in the race.
The pregnancy of Bristol Palin is more newsworthy because of her mother’s strong support of teaching abstinence. As often happens when there are issues surrounding prominent people — and all the Palins are prominent now — the pregnancy has led to legitimate news stories about the recent rise in teen pregnancies after years of a decline.
We’ve been told that Bristol and the teenage father of her baby, Levi Johnston, now plan to marry. It wouldn’t be surprising if legitimate stories followed about the success rate of teenage marriages under similar circumstances (though there aren’t many circumstances that are remotely similar).
The so-called “left-wing” media couldn’t have been accused of being unfair Wednesday night after Palin impressively delivered her attack-dog speech before the Republican Convention. Wednesday’s coverage had a collective 10.4 rating on the three local broadcast affiliates, considerably higher than the 7.6 rating the convention had Tuesday night.
The poised governor got the best reviews this summer since “The Dark Knight,” and with good reason. The phrase “a star is born” was repeated by several cable and network analysts, regardless of their political persuasion. Several analysts even suggested that Palin’s speech was so powerful that it eliminated all the concerns that she was too inexperienced and unqualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Of course, Republicans repeatedly claim that Obama owes his nomination to little more than exceptional oratory and believe it shouldn’t count for much. It counted for plenty Wednesday. The Republicans also have answered questions about Palin’s inexperience by saying she has more than Obama. In other words, they believe she has more experience than the candidate they say doesn’t have enough experience. That isn’t exactly a high threshold.
It’s also an argument that Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who was the vice presidential candidate on the 2000 Democratic ticket with Al Gore, made in his speech Tuesday. After the speech, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell pressured Lieberman on Palin’s readiness to be president if she had to step in for the 72-year-old McCain.
Lieberman said his close friend is in good shape and there is no reason he won’t continue to be. It was only after Mitchell pressed further that he said Palin was ready.
There is one thing that Democrats and Republicans should be able to agree about. Everyone should be ready for an exciting final two months of the election campaign, which could be highlighted by the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate between Palin and Democrat Sen. Joe Biden.
