Many Realize What Sarah's Supporters Already Knew: A Post by Conservative Girl with a Voice

As many of my regular readers know, I studied journalism in college and have repeatedly stressed my opinion that journalism died during the 2008 presidential election. Gone are the days of researching and reporting the facts. Gone are the days of fair and accurate writing. Gone are the days of doing the right thing by asking the tough questions and expecting truthful answers. Perhaps the best example of illustrating the death of journalism is the terrible way in which Sarah Palin was treated during the campaign. The media went on an all-out rampage attacking not only her political stance, but viciously attacking her personally as well. We also saw her family attacked in a way that we had never seen before in the history of politics. As a young conservative, I have made it my mission to do my part to keep the media honest. This blog has allowed me to honestly and fairly report about the current events our country faces on a daily basis. It is important that we come together and take a stand whenever we see something that is unfairly reported or see our government charting a course down the wrong path.




Recently, I was channel surfing, and I stopped when I landed on the oh-so-very-objective MSNBC News. As I began to watch, so-called journalist David Shuster and his co-anchor Tamron Hall began to report on a new book that a former Bush staffer was writing. Supposedly what's in it is a look inside at what President George W. Bush thought about people like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John McCain and Sarah Palin. Frankly, whenever I hear about books written by former presidential staffers, I immediately grow weary of believing any word they say because, after all, many may be writing the book to make money or cash in on their 20 minutes of fame. This former Bush staffer said Bush allegedly said he couldn't wait to see Hillary try to do everything as president as she sat "her fat keester" behind the president's desk. Now, while I don't know if Bush really even said this, I don't think any woman should be described in such a way. Women are smart enough to hold powerful positions and should be treated with respect. While I don't agree with Secretary of State Clinton, it is fine to attack her on the issues and a very different matter to attack her on her personal appearance. Whether or not Bush even said this is not the issue.




What I found extremely disheartening was the way in which Tamron Hall reacted to what was reportedly said about Hillary. Tamron that as a woman, she didn't think it was appropriate to be describing and mocking a woman this way. It is important to note that while I strongly agree with her, I saw the double standard that is so prevalent in today's media. I had to wonder if she would have reacted the same way if the woman in question was, say, Sarah Palin? Something tells me with what I have witnessed with liberal media outlets like MSNBC that the journalists, excuse my language, probably wouldn't give a damn; furthermore, they probably would have found it funny. Who could blame me for feeling this way about an organization that has so-called in-the-tank-for- Obama journalists like Chris Matthews, David Shuster, Norah O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, Keith Olbermann, Contessa Brewer, Andrea Mitchell as well as many others working for them? Over the course of the past year, we have seen these journalists pander to Obama, get thrills up their legs and come to tears over the very sight of seeing the president or hearing him speak. During the election, we came accustomed to seeing liberal news organizations like MSNBC report only what they wanted to report, so their candidate would always look good in the eyes of voters. In doing so, viewers rarely heard about the real issues. It is as if they wanted so desperately to re-live another Camelot that they didn't care about the hard news anymore. In the process of reporting only the good about their candidate, they refused to make Obama answer the tough questions; moreover, in this process of building their candidate up, they became a giant attack dog, of sorts, in regards to their treatment toward Sarah.




After hearing Tamron Hall come to Hillary Clinton's defense, I immediately decided to do something about it. I knew she had a Twitter account, so I tweeted her the following tweet:

@tamronhall How dare u say that as a woman u wre offended when Hillary was mockd!Where wre u when Palin was called the most degrading wrds?

Not even two minutes went by before I received a response from her in which she tweeted me:

@rachellefriberg I stated the same thing when it was about her looks.




I have to applaud her for responding to me, but I took issue with what she said about sticking for up Sarah in the past when she was mocked because of her looks. I don't know about you, but it is hard for me to come up with any MSNBC journalist who has ever come to Sarah Palin's defense. MSNBC, CNN, CBS, ABC and other news outlets, both online and print, have reported the most ridiculous stories about Sarah (making fun of her wardrobe, questioning whether or not she could handle being mother and vice president, mocking her appearance, falsely reporting quotes they say Sarah said when, in reality, it was Tina Fey, questioning her education, making fun of how she talked) that had nothing to do with the election. This is a woman who was elected governor of a state, cleaned up the corruption in her state and was a true reformer. I had hoped that Tamron would at least realize that her channel has treated Sarah unfairly, but I know this probably would never happen, so I tweeted her back the following two tweets and have yet to receive a response:

@tamronhall Ok, but what about the signs that were shown at rallies that called her a *itch or *unt?

@tamronhall I was disgusted when Hillary was mocked as well.What does this say to young women?We should be building women up.




These disgusting words were printed on signs, bumper stickers and apparel. It sickens me to think how children reacted to seeing these words? It sickens me to think that Sarah's own children had to see their mother described in this way. You know good and well MSNBC knows Sarah was described in this manner, yet in typical liberal fashion, they participated in attacking her. While they never called her such words, the destructive, heinous way in which they reported about her made them look like just another supermarket tabloid. Man, oh man, shouldn't they feel proud as they attempted to destroy a woman's good character and name.




While we know the media show extreme bias, many others are beginning to see this. Apparently, some media outlets have just recently gotten the memo in the form of a recent poll that was conducted by the Pew Research Center. In fact, CNN reported on this poll just the other day. This poll surveyed more than 1500 people regarding their feelings toward the media. Not surprisingly, the center's findings reveal a large decline in media trust. The following is the questions asked, followed by the results:

DECLINE IN MEDIA TRUST:
News articles often inaccurate:
2009 63%
2007 53%
1985 34%

BELIEVE THE MEDIA "GENERALLY GETS THE FACTS STRAIGHT":
2009 29% (Fewer than 3
in 10 people)
2007 39%
1985 55%

NEWS ORGANIZATIONS ARE POLITICALLY BIASED: Yes 60%
No 26%




If this doesn't prove how people REALLY feel about the media, I don't know what else will. CNN reporter Heidi Collins, who did not look too happy about the results, interviewed Washington Post Media Reporter Howard Kurtz about this poll. According to Kurtz:

"Journalists are the target of a lot of mockery these days. These are stunning numbers. It's really kind of a vote of no confidence in the news' business. This has been going on for a quarter century... and I think mostly because of a series of self-inflicted wounds by big news organizations that sometimes appear arrogant, slow to correct their errors, sometimes appear to have political agendas, and the biggest single change that I see in these numbers... is how many more democrats now don't trust the press, where as republicans for decades have felt that the media are hostile toward them."


Hmmm, ya think, Howard? The last thing people want to hear is about the Obama's date night, or his family's latest trip to Europe or Martha's Vineyard when they are out of a job or struggling to pay their mortgage. Perhaps my favorite part is what happened next when Collins seemed stunned in this response, so she asked him why democrats are feeling so negatively toward the press, to which Kurtz replies:

"Well, part of that now is that we have a democratic president, and democrats who thought it was fine for the press to go after the Bush White House are not so happy with some of the scrutiny of the Obama White House...."


Give me a break. When compared to the reports about Sarah, the so-called negative reports about President Obama look like a walk in the park. Kurtz goes on to say:


"We all have to be careful to have an even playing field here to go after controversies in the Obama Administration as hard and aggressively as we did in the Bush Administration; otherwise, we're going to see more of this public perception that we are following. We, I'm talking about journalists, generally now are following some kind of agenda."



I agree with Kurtz on this point. If the media were as on hard on Obama as they were on Bush, perhaps the full truth would finally be reported. After all, it is the job of the press to be fair and objective. I think it's about time that they start actually doing what they were taught in school to do.




Collins concluded the interview by asking Kurtz if impartial journalism existed anywhere? Here is how Kurtz responded:

"I think there are an awful lot of journalists who try to be fair; they may have their own personal feelings about issues. They really try hard to get it right, but the public is not buying that, and the public is gravitating toward conservative or liberal websites, channels, blogs, twitter accounts, you name it that reinforce what they already believe."




I agree and disagree with this answer. As far as there being a lot of objective journalists out there, I can maybe name a handful who exist today. It is a known fact that the majority of journalists preach their liberal agendas. You only have to look as far as the presidential election of 2008 to see this. I do agree that more and more people are beginning to get their news from outside sources as mentioned above. As a conservative blogger, I am glad that I am able to get the truth out there, and you can count on me to continue to do so. I find the conservative aspect of the sources above, as well as talk radio great sources to turn to when I want and desire the truth, for I know that if I only depended on the msm, I would not be getting all the information I need to understand what is going on in the world. Thank God for these other outlets. It is a no brainer why there are so many uninformed individuals out there, if all they rely on is what they see on TV. CNN viewer Andrew brought up a good point regarding this:

"I don't trust any one source for anything anymore. Too many stations in the news media have a political corporate agenda to make them trustworthy. Also, with 24 hour news needing to constantly break a story, the competition breaths the inaccuracy in reporting...."




This is very true. Even the Fox News Channel can get it wrong, as we saw several times during the election when they reported on Sarah. While FNC is my news channel of choice, I also try to be well-informed and well-read; thus, I seek other sources as well. I have a feeling that as time goes by, more and more people are going to do the same. All I can say to the media is "wake up!" Wake up and start reporting ALL sides of an issue, no matter how good or bad the stories make your president look. Think of your audience; until you report fairly and objectively, you are doing your viewers a huge disservice. For the sake of our country and our country's future, report the truth, and maybe, just maybe, you will win back our trust!



(I'm a Conservative Girl with a Voice!!! Visit my blog and become a follower: http://conservativegirlwithavoice.blogspot.com. I'm on Twitter too @rachellefriberg.)