The Press Demands an Apology - Censure Palin!

Mary Mitchell, of the Chicago Sun Times, believes that Sarah Palin owes the Press, and more absurdly, the Obama Campaign an apology for remarks made to reporters at a recent Florida rally. Apparently, if the shoe is on the other foot, it’s not exactly comfortable. Mary refers to an opinion piece in the Washington Post for her article, while embellishing the original story just a bit. Mitchell conveniently neglects to link to the Post piece in question, leaving the reader no doubt that Mary’s opinion is “Fact”. What the press, in general, is missing is that they are under extreme scrutiny by the American public and have been for quite some time. With the glaring partisanship shown in the past year, beginning with the Clinton campaign and now transferred to Palin, each piece is looked over, examined for accuracy, and then debunked by one’s 70 year old next door neighbor who has access to high speed cable Internet. Mary, the proverbial jig is up. Palin, in her remarks about the mainstream media, shows most American’s one thing specifically - she is one of “them” and is voicing an opinion of the media that they have had for years. In other words, sooner or later, someone was going to say it out loud - It was bound to happen.

In examining Mitchell’s article, she notes: “According to a published report in the Washington Post, Palin reporters turned on the press after she blamed the media for her inarticulate interviews. Some supporters used racial slurs, and at one point someone in the audience yelled: "Kill him." For greatest accuracy Mitchell should have read Millbank's piece - one person in the crowd said "sit down boy" to a camera man! article here (granted this was Florida, and as it was a Republican rally, one in the press would immediately assume it was racial, instead of a retiree who might be telling someone to get out of his way). Further, there was a network that was noted, however, nothing has appeared yet on a local or national station and/or found its way to YouTube to support this story - again questionable.

The press has run unchecked for years and they are now surprised that the public is fed up? If one thinks this is something that is out of the ordinary - think again - it did not start with Palin, it started 10 years ago (connect the dots with declining circulation as well as ratings - (Of course, certain people will blame the Internet as well as talk radio). Mitchell begins the article with “Palin should apologize to the Obama campaign and the media"; which begs the question: why should Palin apologize to the campaign for something that one of the attendees (or several) said and/or did? Is booing at Obama not allowed? Perhaps Mary refers to the alleged racial slur? If the media expects an apology from anyone who is right of Progressive, they may be waiting for some time.

Most mainstream American's believe that reporters should base articles on fact, not opinion - unless of course, the article is plainly stamped opinion and appears on an op-ed page or television segment. Very few can honestly tell the difference between the two because that is not the case – there are no longer clear distinctions made between page 1 and 34. Therefore, if someone does not care a journalists or reporters opinion and shouts at them (or boos), or worse, tells a cameraman to stop blocking their view and sit down!, then one must keep in mind that they are a spectator at these events, not privileged members of the press and they had better be ready to take what they have so long dished out. Mitchell’s article is a case in point, although it is a blog, she is perceived as reporting. Again, this is due to the fact that the lines between fact and opinion have been crossed far too often in the majority (includes Talk Radio and Fox) of America’s media outlets and consumers are angry.