It is true what they say about this year's presidential election -- it is one for the history books! Not only have the politics of race been so ever present in this general election campaign, but now the politics of gender are taking a new toll...and much of this is credited to the media.
In the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live, the show opened with a satirical piece of Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Hillary Clinton -- two women who have come closest to winning a political office in the White House in recent history. Much of the clip touches on the media's unfair portrayal of women running for higher office.
Does the media have a different standard in covering politicians who wear lipstick?
In this presidential election, it is hard to escape the role gender has played in the news media as the issue has been thrown center-stage. Should lipstick grant anyone a free ride from the press? The McCain campaign seems think so. Until recently, Sarah Palin had been skirting the media, hiding behind McCain while he faced the media's intense scrutiny of his VP pick.
There was much criticism from conservatives and people in the McCain campaign who assumed that the media's inquiry into Sarah Palin was due to its sexist instinct. Did the media go too far in its attempt to reveal everything they could about the Alaskan governor, or was the scrutiny largely based on Palin's gender? Would a small town mayor turned governor of the smallest populated state in the US -- who happened to be a man and picked to be vice president -- have faced such 'hostility' from the media?
Sarah Palin finally broke her silence when she appeared in her first TV interview since accepting the VP nomination. ABC's network news anchor Charlie Gibson was granted the 'honor' of sitting down with the Republican vice presidential nominee. Throughout the interview, Gibson was seen asking Palin tough questions, almost grilling her on her beliefs and knowledge of world affairs. One highlight of the interview was when Palin was struggling to define what the Bush Doctrine is, clearly showing her inexperience in matters of foreign policy.
There were people who thought Gibson had a condescending tone while questioning Palin. Was Gibson injecting his own political disapproval of Palin into his questions? It appeared to me, however, that he was simply trying to figure out who Palin was and why Americans should be compelled to vote for her and John McCain come this November.
In a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, a majority of men were shown to have a more favorable opinion of Palin than women. The same survey also showed a gender gap when asked if Palin is qualified to serve as president if needed. Fifty-seven percent of men think she is qualified while 55 percent of women feel she is not. Does her lipstick have anything to do with this?
The women of The View appeared to have serious doubts into Palin's experience credentials, attacking John McCain on their show for choosing such a candidate to be second in line for the presidency.
If women are attacking Palin's inexperience, how then can it be sexist for the mainstream media to be doing the same?
The answer is that it's not! The media's role in all this seems to be fair. The fact a person wears lipstick should not be an indication on how they should be treated by the media. The media, it seems, is only trying to reveal Palin -- a virtually unknown person in American politics -- to the American people. And with such a high political office at stake, all is fair game.
If Palin thinks she's being treated unfair by the media or feels that her gender restricts her from answering certain questions, then maybe she should rethink running for vice president of the United States. The role of the media, especially in presidential elections, should continue to be the watchdog and inform we, the people on all matters of politicians' lives and their issues so the public can form an educated opinion and cast it on election day.
By Alexandra Hinojosa
September 16, 2008 12:21 AM
Putting aside the the coverage on Obama and now Palin, it is the media's role to inform the public. But there is no doubt that people will argue, no matter how unbiased the media tries to be, that will say the media is being unfair, and in some cases I believe that the media can be unfair as far what they cover and how much they cover.