KATIE COURIC ASKED Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin which newspapers and magazines she reads. Palin responded, "I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media."
Couric followed, "What, specifically?"
And Palin answered, "Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years."
"Can you name a few?" Couric countered.
"I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too," Palin said. "Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kind of suggested, 'Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?' Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America."
In the days after the interview, the Republicans blamed the media for attempting to undermine Palin with "gotcha questions."
"It's like, man, no matter what you say, you are going to get clobbered," Palin later told Fox News. "If you choose to answer a question, you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try to pivot and go to another subject that you believe that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that, too."
My question to you is this: Are the media treating Palin poorly? Or is attacking the media a strategy used to discredit those who discredit her?
ALSO: READ about this Temple student's encounter with Palin at Tony Luke's sandwich shop in South Philly.
22 comments:
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i think, yeah, palin's whole "media out to get me" thing is just strategy... so she figures out a way to turn everything around. it's part of the whole "just a regular hockey mom schtick," i think.
Typical republican; using media as a scapegoat. I mean, the lady said the fact that she can peek out of her window and keep and eye on russians makes her a foreign policy expert. [sigh] Where do they get these random running mates from?!
At least in this case, I just don't see how you can blame the media, or claim that someone's out to get you just because you're a Republican (or Democrat, what have you). If you can't even name a damned newspaper or program, there's a much larger problem there.
The media, all outlets and mediums are treating her just the way she should be treated. The American people should know, and deserve the right to know about the people who are going to be running the country. Like, come on. You can't answer a simple question and that's Katie Couric's fault? I think not.
The URL is fixed!
- George (your tech friendly teacher)
The media has the right to ask questions and make sure responses are valid despite the party.
the media ahs the right to ask questions like that. The citizens have a right to know especially if she is a "heartbeat" away from running our country. I do not believe the media was attacking her, I feel she always thinks there is an underlying plot to get her or something and I don't think that was the plan in this case at all.
Politicians are prominent targets for the media spotlight. Governor Sarah Palin, like all politicians knows this. They will focus on her every move and word.
Palin being critiqued by her responses is not far from the media exploiting the photograph of Senator Barack Obama in Somali garb. Anything that is unusual (newsworthiness criteria) will be reported on. Palin's speech and answers are unusual, just like Obama's first and last name is to the American norm.
It did show the ability to overcome when Palin added, "I'm going to take those shots and those pop quizzes and just say that's okay, those are good testing grounds." As a vice presidential candidate, you are going to get struck with difficult questions. Whether they are irrelevant, manipulative traps, you have to be able to think on your feet. That's the job of a politician.
It's almost a Catch-22 for Palin. She discredits the mass media, because she believes they portray her as naive and unintelligent. The catch is, she needs the mass media to inform the public in order to gain votes.
The Media is doing its job. If Palin can't handle the heat, she needs to drop out of the race.
It's not the journalists' faults that she is seemingly incapable of answering a question. All she had to do was name which newspapers and magazines she reads. And if she doesn't, she shouldn't have lied in the first place.
I agree with many of the comments above when I say that it's not the medias fault at all that she gets stuck in these "gotcha" questions. Had she named a newspaper or two, she wouldn't have looked so ignorant. The media, similar to the Temple student, is simply asking questions. If she can't answer them properly and it makes her look bad in the end, that's her problem and no one else's.
The media is treating her just fine. It is not their fault that she does not respond to certain questions that she is asked. Obviously, she is being closely watched and should be prepared for any and all questions because its her job. Asking what newspapers she reads is not a "gotcha question".
I don't think it's a strategy at all for Palin. Depending on what television network you watch, their are different targets. From FOX, to CNN, to NBC, there is almost always a different attitude toward certain issues. Journalists working for the endless media outlets out there cleverly work this attitude into their work. Sometimes it's intentional, sometimes it's not. What really makes me sick in this world, is how almost everything is subjective and nothing is ever objective. It's just the way the world works I guess. Sure, it is ridiculous to make everyone agree on a specific issue, political leader, etc. But people's opinions should always be valued, because that is what stems every branch of the media. I don't think Katie Curic was purposely trying to undermine Palin, however, there could be some slight truth to that, which is unfortunate. People need to stop trying to take down their opponents, and start standing behind what they believe and what they say regardless of what anyone tries to do to stop them.
Is it too hard to say "The New York times" or "Boston Globe" or "Chicago Sun Times" or "The Alaskan Gazette"? I mean she could have said anything instead of "everything" if that makes enough sense...
All journalists ask questions, if you make a dumb response of course it is going to be everywhere.
I don't think Katie Couric's question was meant to stump Sarah Palin, it was a general question that could've easily been answered. It's unsettling that perhaps the future vice president can't name a newspaper or magazine. If that's the toughest question she has trouble answering, then I think we need to worry about how she's going to handle things a little more complex.
Not to beat a dead horse but its only person who can be faulted for faulty answers is the person answering the question. If, perhaps, the media acctually asked her a question that either way she answered it would be damning then perhaps we might need to look at it but that is not the case. The question was what do you read. She couldnt answer.
I think everyone wanted to hear her said "oh ya know, like Cosmopolitan, Marie claire!" But i think it was a good question to see what palin uses the media for. I wonder if she reads Bear's life...
So this is how far we have come as a society... blaming other people for our mistakes???? All she had to do was name one newspaper or something, whether she really reads it or not... she couldnt even do that and she's running for freaking VP. These sotrs of questions would not be "gotcha questions" if people just used their brains. There would be nothing to "getcha" for!!
Once again Palin is trying to avoid answering questions. It was a simple question. How hard is it to tell someone where you get your news from or which newspapers she reads. What type of vice president can she be if she can't even answer a simple question?
The problem with this is I just don't get why she wouldn't name a magazine or newspaper she reads. I mean even if she doesn't read them, I am sure she knows the name of many newspapers and/or magazines in the world (at least I hope so!) But I don't think this incident specifically was an attack on Palin or the Republican party. She could've easily answered the question and the interview would have most likely just moved on and she wouldn't have gotten "clobbered" by the press. But to be fair, it does seem like the media might pick on her at times, for being a woman or whatever internal reasons they have, but in my opinion, this just didnt seem like "gotcha journalism".
Palin's just trying not to show a bias towards any media, so it won't be used against her. Simple as that.
Hey, it's not the media's fault that she's a little slow on the intake. I feel bad for her sometimes, but the American public deserves to know how unqualified she is.
-Najee
She's a robot. She could not even think of maybe three newspapers to list off? I'm sure that's not something that was reviewed and hammered into her sunflower seed sized brain, but it shouldn't have been that challenging. Palin is what I like to call, a hot mess. She can't blame the media for her lack of intelligence. She's the bonehead who got herself into this. I gotta give it to the Republicans though, they were quite crafty when picking her needle out of the hay stack for VP. Having a woman on the turtle team will help with the younger 18-25 voters, and women in general. The older Americans get, they tend to vote Republican. Clearly McCain has that under wraps, considering his wizardly age. If she would stop regurgitating everything "Maverick" McCain and everyone else has given her, she might make a statement all her own and then maybe she wouldn't seem so dumb. Argo, the media wouldn't focus on her lack of brain cells. She's such a bird.
uh....how do I say this without being obviously rude and mean??? Hmmm... Sarah Palin is not ready to be in such a close position to running a country.
There. I said it.
If she cannot name out any of the papers/books/anything with words that she's read, it obviously shows that she doesn't even know much about the America and the American people that she keeps preaching about. Also, she claims that she has access to many media outlets and that Alaska isn't "a foreign country". But if you watch how she acts, you would think Alaska is on another planet.
No one's picking on Sarah Palin. This isn't high school. Get over it and, if she does what she's supposed to do, she would have to worrry about the press being on her back.
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