“Piranhas of the Press” unfair to Sarah Palin, political writer says
The press should be ashamed of how it covered and treated Sarah Palin during and since the campaign, writes Carl M. Cannon, senior Washington correspondent for Politics Daily.
“The true villains in this political morality play may have been the press,” Cannon writes in an article titled “Sarah ‘Barracuda’ Palin and the Piranhas of the Press.”
Cannon describes himself: “I’m not a Republican or a conservative; I’m a lifelong journalist who was born and raised in this profession…” He writes:
The mainstream media is undergoing its demise, drip by drip, day by day, and its practitioners, which include most of my friends in life, are under considerable pressure. In my opinion, however, these pressures do not excuse the treatment accorded Sarah Palin. On the contrary, to me the entire Sarah saga revealed that it wasn’t only the traditional media’s business model that is broken. Our journalism model is busted, too.
He offers numerous examples of what he considers unfair press coverage. And his key example — and the subject of much of his article — is the vice presidential debate held in St. Louis:
The reason is what happened when the battle over Sarah Palin came to a head on Oct. 2, 2008, in St. Louis, Mo. That night, the press showed its colors - and they were Democratic blue. That was the night that Palin cleaned Joe Biden’s clock in their only debate, and nobody in the media could even see it, let alone report it. That was the night that the dual blinders of ideology and elitism prevented us being honest brokers.
Later:
Facts matter, the man said. But they didn’t in 2008, not when it came to Joe Biden (our guy) against Sarah Palin (odd outsider). The ladies and gentlemen of the press were more interested in her hair, her glasses, her wardrobe, her accent, her sex life, her kids’ sex lives, and her hunting habits than in whether her opponent knew anything about foreign policy, the Constitution of the United States, or the job he was running for. They still are. The relentlessly negative coverage of Palin goes on unabated — she’s the subject of a much-ballyhooed hatchet job in Vanity Fair this month — even as Biden makes minor news from time to time by continuing his penchant for gaffes, this time while serving as the second most powerful person in the federal government.
Steve Parker is the deputy managing editor for news, and oversees the Post-Dispatch's front page. STLtoday's online news editors are on his newsroom team. Parker has been at the paper since September 1980. 
Finally someone speaks up and calls the media on its bias… thank you so much…she really did not deserve this hatred by the media and destruction of her life. And she did beat Biden and he knew it… but the liberal media just kept writing the lies…Sarh’s biggest mistake was her belief that the truth would set the record straght… didnt happen… thank you so much for finally reporting some truth!
2008 is the year journalism died. Many of us no longer have any
respect or put any stock in what we read or hear on the news or in
the newspaper anymore. Abc, cbs, msnbc, cnn and nbc are all Obama
networks all day. They are the state-run media. When will they
wake up and give us both sides of every story? I’ve cancelled my
liberal newspaper and will not support anything that I feel is
tilted one way or the other. All americans want is fair and balance
for both sides, no matter your views.
So this is where all of the kool aid swilling Obats are?
The reporter, to his credit, told the truth. Too bad it didn’t happen sooner. Before the worst President ever was voted into office would have been a great time to get real media coverage. Unfortunately the media fouled their own nest, the voters didn’t do their own research, and now this country is going down to third world level.
Bravo, Mr. Cannon, for finally speaking the truth. When I attended journalism school many years ago, we were taught always to be fair and balanced, to never allow personal opinion to color our reporting. During the past election, I was appalled by the obvious bias against Gov. Palin. She was — and still is — scrutinized under a microcope while Obama and Biden were asked no hard questions. For instance, where was the in-depth investigative reporting about Obama’s ties with convicted felon Tony Rezko? Why was so little reported (outside of Fox News) about his close connection to shady characters like Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and Khalid Al Mansour?
The job of the press is supposed to be vet ALL of our candidates, not just one. Unfortunately, over the years the media has become increasingly liberal. 2008 was the year that true journalism officially died.
Bardsmith… How far back did your coma start? Glad you’re back among the living, though.
You do realize Biden has been on the national stage for decades, and Obama for four years, after he gave that speech at the DNC, right? Now, Biden, Obama and Palin; which one of these is not like the others? Really, this is Sesame Street stuff here.
Thank you, Carl Cannon, for your honesty and candor. Finally, someone from the MSM has the guts and courage of their conviction to stand up and speak the truth. As all Americans of any intelligence have known for a long time………objective and honest journalism is dead. Newspapers like the NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, et al and major news networks like CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, CBS, et al, just don’t get it as to why their industry is dying. Americans aren’t stupid or blind, we can see what they’ve done, and their demise, while sad from a true journalism standpoint, is gladly welcomed by honest Americans everywhere. Maybe a new and honest group of journalists will emerge from the ashes of our biased media.
dumb.
EJ Rotert- sesame steet maybe for Odumbo. He ran for President 2 of his 4 years as a JUNIOR senator, and was only able to vote present. He had no prior executive experience, he has never run a business, a city, or a state’s budget, and now he is qualified to be president? No wonder he is such a disaster. He thinks passing hugh bills spending tons of money,and doing it very quickly means he is successful at fixing problems. This is pure stupidity. However,the real problem with odumbo is not his lack of experience, but his underlying disdain for America and his radical socialist agenda.
I agree, the press should stop covering soon to be ex-Gov. Palin, especially her pre-arranged “surprise” “informal” outings where she can complain about the press covering her. Let’s grant her her wish and leave her alone.
Now, if only she would leave the rest of us alone.
NormaJ… Please present evidence for what you wrote. Now, now, don’t back off. And if you really think Obama is a socialist, you need to take a Sociology 101 class. Just because Tokyo Rush says Obama is a socialist doesn’t make it so.
And as far as Obama not having any experience… Did you forget that Gorge Bush failed at every business venture he was involved in before he became president? Yet, you probably voted for him — at least once.
Quit listening to Rush; it’s rotting your brain.