In the last 48 hours, the establishment media’s bias against Republican Sarah Palin has become a full-fledged feeding frenzy. This morning on FNC’s Fox & Friends, the anchors noted how the pop culture mag Us Weekly is now bashing Palin with a harsh cover story, “Babies, Lies, and Scandal,” when just a couple of months ago the same magazine ran a sappy cover piece featuring Barack and Michelle Obama: “Why Barack Loves Her.”
Co-host Steve Doocy cited NewsBusters’ recent “Quick Study” study of cable news as providing proof of the incredible double standard against Palin: “The Media Research Center did a study of the two hours of prime time after Joe Biden was announced as a Vice President and after Sarah Palin was announced, and overwhelmingly it was so against the Republican.”
Back on June 18, NewsBusters’ Noel Sheppard illustrated the sappiness of the Obama cover story:
"Nothing is more important to Michelle than being a good mother," the Democratic presidential nominee tells Us. "She works every day to instill in our girls the same values we were raised with."
Last night, NewsBusters’ Terry Trippany showcased how the same magazine tried to paint Palin as a mean-spirited and difficult woman:
On January 15, Alaska governor Sarah Palin laughed along with an Alaskan shock-jock DJ who called her political rival Lyda Green a "cancer," a "bitch" and ridiculed her weight. (Green is a cancer survivor.)...
So what did Green think when she heard Palin was John McCain's vice presidential candidate? "It's been very difficult to work with her," she tells Us Weekly. "I wish there had been more vetting."
FNC’s Gretchen Carlson was infuriated by the bias: “I mean, sorry, no matter what side of the fence you are on, this is ridiculous. The cover says ‘Babies, Lies, and Scandal.’...This is her newborn child that is on the cover of this magazine. Any mother or father out there should be disappointed to the highest extreme.”
Here’s a transcript of how Fox & Friends exposed the anti-Palin tilt at about 6:09am EDT on September 3.
GRETCHEN CARLSON: This is by far the most important point of the campaign for John McCain, and now for Sarah Palin, is how her performance will be tonight. And if any, you know, if you look back at Friday and how she did, you know, hopefully all of this guff by the mainstream media has not gotten to her. Because when you look at the cover of Us magazine, I mean, sorry, no matter what side of the fence you are on, this is ridiculous. The cover says "Babies, Lies, and Scandal."
BRIAN KILMEADE: You think you are talking about Caylee Anthony, not the Governor of Alaska.
CARLSON: I think it's amazing. This is her newborn child that is on the cover of this magazine. Any mother or father out there should be disappointed to the highest extreme.STEVE DOOCY: Here's what you need to know when you look at that cover, and I believe we've got a side by side comparison. So as Us Weekly, which is one of those magazines you can pick off at the grocery store. Take a look -- Us Weekly has depicted the Republican with this headline. "Babies, lies, and Scandal."
CARLSON, LAUGHING: It's not even funny.
DOOCY: And meanwhile, here is how they have depicted Barack Obama and his wife Michelle: "Why Barack Loves Her." Now, what you need to keep in mind is the fact that the publisher of Us Weekly is Jann Wenner, who is a huge Barack Obama supporter.
KILMEADE: Isn't he is the guy from Rolling Stone, too.
DOOCY: Yeah, he owns both of them as well. And apparently with the url, which is the link to take you to these various stories, the slug is "Sarah Palin, very difficult to work with."
CARLSON: Of course, she is a woman. That's the first thing they say about you.
DOOCY: There is a lot of sexism. We're going to be talking a little more about that throughout the day because-
CARLSON: Let's talk about it right now.
DOOCY: Hold on a second, Gretchen. The mainstream media -- if you were watching the other cable networks, and Fox really is fair and balanced, but if you were watching the other cable networks you would just have been overwhelmed by the bias against her. And, in fact, the Media Research Center did a study of the two hours of prime time after Joe Biden was announced as a Vice President and after Sarah Palin was announced, and overwhelmingly it was so against the Republican.
An excerpt from the NewsBusters Quick Study by Matthew Sheffield that Doocy was referring to:
Perhaps unsurprisingly given its decision to market itself as the network of the far left, MSNBC was the most unfair of the cable news channels. After Democrats learned Biden would be their vice presidential nominee August 23rd, MSNBC aired 47 positive statements about Obama's running mate. The network aired just 4 about Sara Palin when she was announced August 29th, making it 4 times more likely to praise Biden than Palin.
MSNBC skewed leftward when it came to negative information about McCain's running mate. It aired 20 negative statements about Palin and 14 about Biden.
Compared to CNN and MSNBC, Fox News was the fairest network. Biden was the recipient of more positive statements than Palin (25 versus 15) but he was also the recipient of more negative statements (31 versus 10).
As for CNN, while the first cable news channel was not as effusive in its praise of Biden as MSNBC (the network aired 29 positive statements about the Democrat versus 15 about Palin), it actually outstripped MSNBC in attacking Sarah Palin.
