Blog: Rod Boyce: The editor's desk
Palin and the media
Published Friday, September 19, 2008
Voters need to be given the information with which to make a sound judgment about a person’s fitness for office, especially when the office is one of the top spots in the nation. That’s certainly the case now with the historic Republican vice presidential nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin.
Having information about a candidate’s past—good and bad—is essential. Knowing the truthfulness of a candidate’s statements is vital. People can ignore the information put out by the media if they want to, but that’s their decision to make, not the media’s.
For the News-Miner and other media outlets to withhold sound and relevant information—and at times that information can include painful material about pregnancies, affairs and other family matters, depending on the context—would actually amount to the assuming of too much authority by the media. We would, without question, be harming the public good.
Responsibility does come with the publishing of information, however. Not everything about Palin—and there’s an awful lot of it out there—needs to get published. We don’t have unlimited space in the print edition, so we need to think hard about what to print. But we also think about the fairness and appropriateness of stories on the days when the newspaper does have extra room on its pages. Those days of plentiful room aren’t a license for us to pour in the Palin stories without thinking about their impact. The same goes for the Web, even with its boundless freedom from the limits of space.
The News-Miner and other Alaska media also find themselves in a curious spot with the coverage of the governor.
Alaska’s journalists know Palin a lot more than do their Lower 48 colleagues.
News-Miner editors and reporters have met with her a few times, though she hasn’t met with us as much as other Alaska governors have. And we’ve covered her on and off since her run for lieutenant governor back in 2002. Likewise, Chicago media know Sen. Barack Obama better than we do, Arizona media know Sen. McCain better than we do, and Delaware media know Sen. Joe Biden better than we do. So it will look, on many an occasion, that Alaska media are heavy on the Palin coverage. But that’s natural: She’s our governor and running for national office like no other Alaskan before her.
We do want, when the election is concluded, to look and back and say we provided a good mix of stories over time about Gov. Palin as a candidate for vice president: stories that have told us about Palin the person, about her policies, her shortcomings, her successes and what type of vice president—and, yes, president—she would be.
We take this work seriously, not lightly.
If you want to know the real story on tasergate, check out www.palinfightscorruption.com
Rod, you guys are in a precarious position and you do a better job of fair coverage than the Anchorage Daily news and 95% of the mainstream media. For that I thank you.
The News-Miner along with all the rest of the mainstream media has missed the real story. Troopergate is not the real story, Tasergate is. The story should be on the Public Safety Employee's Union which cut Trooper Wooten's suspension down from 10 days to five days for Tasering his 10 year old son, shooting a cow moose without a permit, and driving a marked police car while intoxicated.
Why isn't that the investigation, why isn't that the story, why do you crucify the victim's of Wooten's death threat?
www.palinfightscorruption.com
To the people of Alaska:
I spent all my young adult life in Fairbanks & surrounds, & many of my best friends still live there. I was there before the Pipeline, during , & after. After being run over by a Winnebago, I have been farmed out on a beach in S Thailand where the cost of living fits my meagre disability pensions & the climate my battered body, for almost 20 yrs now. I am just aghast & agape that the people of Alaska would elect someone who is so blatently stupid & blinded by religious dogma that they don't believe in Evolution. Alaska used to have to finest people in the world. They must have all moved out, & a bunch of religious nuts moved in, huh? Pipeline Pete Houghton, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand
After Watching the News Coverage of Gov. Palin and the “Hide the Head in the Sand” News Coverage of Obama (And his past), I have lost 100% respect for your Newspaper. In the Past history of America, the Newspapers and their reports were the “First; On The Line” and “Watch-Dogs” of the Government, and our Rights. But now, things have changed. After seeing all the Negative coverage of our Governor, and NO investigation into the past of Obama, the Newspapers have showed that they can no longer be trusted on their reporting (Or Lack Of reporting) ! They are No Longer the Watch-Dog over Government as they were in the past. The Newspapers have become the Governments and the DNC “Lap-Dog” when it comes to Obama, and the group behind him.
Post a comment