When talking about the media coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, it is interesting to think about who might be getting a "free ride" with the press in terms of media coverage. Recently Sarah Palin agreed to sit down for her first interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson.
When I first heard this news from online blogging sites, the posts seemed pretty skeptical of Gibson's ability to ask "hard hitting" questions. For example, see number 6 of this blogger's post on The Huffington Post or this post on Gawker which refers to Gibson as Charlie 'Softball' Gibson. There seemed to be a lot of questions raised about whether Palin was getting a free ride with the press by selecting to grant an interview to Charlie Gibson.
When I first heard this news from online blogging sites, the posts seemed pretty skeptical of Gibson's ability to ask "hard hitting" questions. For example, see number 6 of this blogger's post on The Huffington Post or this post on Gawker which refers to Gibson as Charlie 'Softball' Gibson. There seemed to be a lot of questions raised about whether Palin was getting a free ride with the press by selecting to grant an interview to Charlie Gibson.
However, when watching this interview, Palin
doesn't necessarily seem to be getting off easy.
It doesn't seem that Gibson is serving her up questions to which she has prepared answers, but instead the interview seemed to reveal her naivety as a politician. Most of her answers seemed generic and vague, even when Gibson posed the same question multiple times in order to get a concrete answer (such as when he asked multiple times about the Bush doctrine seen here and whether or not the US has the right to go across the border from Afghanistan to Pakistan with or without the permission of the Pakistani government). Gibson asks the question a few times, on the third time saying, "I got lost in a blizzard of words there. Is that a yes..."The questions Gibson asks don't necessarily paint Palin in a positive light, but instead expose her views on the war on Iraq and domestic issues such as abortion.
I think the fact that there seemed to be skepticism about Palin's interview with Gibson instead seems to highlight the fact that the media seems to favor the opposing candidate, Barack Obama. In my opinion, I can see the reasons for why Obama seems to have gained "celebrity status" in the press just by watching clips of him speak in comparison to those of Senator John McCain. However, if I was to worry about someone getting a free ride, and I'm speaking as a personal Obama fan myself, I would look towards coverage of Obama instead of Sarah Palin. Even News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch predicts Obama to win the election, stating in this Reuters article "Murdoch said he had played a role in the endorsement by the New York Post, one of his global stable of papers, in endorsing Obama during the Democratic primary with Hillary Clinton in New York."
I'm sure that everyone has seen the "Yes We Can" Obama music video by Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am featuring celebrities such as actress Scarlett Johansson and singer Common singing along to an Obama speech.
Just yesterday when I was driving home, some sort of remix of Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention came on the radio station 103.1 FM. I looked it up when I got home and it can be heard here.
This Walt Handelsman cartoon, published in Newsday by Tribune Media Services,
is another example of the type of excitement and emotion
that Obama is generating. While I wouldn't necessarily say that Obama
is getting a free ride from the press, (with New Yorker covers such as this one) I would say that he is probably the candidate closest to getting one.
It doesn't seem that Gibson is serving her up questions to which she has prepared answers, but instead the interview seemed to reveal her naivety as a politician. Most of her answers seemed generic and vague, even when Gibson posed the same question multiple times in order to get a concrete answer (such as when he asked multiple times about the Bush doctrine seen here and whether or not the US has the right to go across the border from Afghanistan to Pakistan with or without the permission of the Pakistani government). Gibson asks the question a few times, on the third time saying, "I got lost in a blizzard of words there. Is that a yes..."The questions Gibson asks don't necessarily paint Palin in a positive light, but instead expose her views on the war on Iraq and domestic issues such as abortion.
I think the fact that there seemed to be skepticism about Palin's interview with Gibson instead seems to highlight the fact that the media seems to favor the opposing candidate, Barack Obama. In my opinion, I can see the reasons for why Obama seems to have gained "celebrity status" in the press just by watching clips of him speak in comparison to those of Senator John McCain. However, if I was to worry about someone getting a free ride, and I'm speaking as a personal Obama fan myself, I would look towards coverage of Obama instead of Sarah Palin. Even News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch predicts Obama to win the election, stating in this Reuters article "Murdoch said he had played a role in the endorsement by the New York Post, one of his global stable of papers, in endorsing Obama during the Democratic primary with Hillary Clinton in New York."
I'm sure that everyone has seen the "Yes We Can" Obama music video by Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am featuring celebrities such as actress Scarlett Johansson and singer Common singing along to an Obama speech.
Just yesterday when I was driving home, some sort of remix of Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention came on the radio station 103.1 FM. I looked it up when I got home and it can be heard here.
This Walt Handelsman cartoon, published in Newsday by Tribune Media Services,
is another example of the type of excitement and emotion
that Obama is generating. While I wouldn't necessarily say that Obama
is getting a free ride from the press, (with New Yorker covers such as this one) I would say that he is probably the candidate closest to getting one. 
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