Palin bans reporters from meetings with leaders

[Lunar]

I notice a lot of objective political blogs (Well, Ambinder, Ben Smith, and JMart) are starting to really ramp up their criticism of Palin as sort of the "no talk express."  The major news stations revolted and had to blackmail and refuse to cover Palin just to get a commentator to be with the TV cameras.  CBS just got slightly blacklisted from the McCain campaign for having a reporter ask Palin a question about the bailout during an "off the record" session at a diner. 

No press conference, only one interview and a Sean Hannity interview (which is basically "Tell me why Obama's campaign has been unfair to you?"), the press is really ankling.  I can tell when they post sarcastic videos in their blogs of her "informing the press" this or "asking the press" that but then refusing to actually talk to the press after making those statements. 

The Palin phenom is a moneymaker, the press needs access in order to write stories and make their jobs profitable and the news agencies need to run those stories to keep afloat.  It could very well be a mistake to bite the media's hand, especially with the McCain campaigns recent broadsides fired at Politico and the NYT.  The amount of protectiveness surrounding Palin, is, in the media's perspective, astronomical and bizarre.

The media needs to be tossed a bone every now and then, not be progressively cut off.

[Lunar]

I think the Governor has every right to do this. The media's been treating her poorly, and she's just pushing back.

Also, I like it when someone gives the media the finger. Stick it to those disingenuous and sensationalist bastards.

^From Sbane: I don't remember any outlet covering the sex-ed thing either. 
 
Attacking the media only works when they are attacking you.  If they are just normal reporterstrying to get information to write some stories, attacking them is stupid.

Like it or not the sensationalist media determines a large amount of public perception and the public likes those sensationalist stories (why the public doesn't watch C-SPAN).  Not holding a single press conference, Q&A sesh, or more the one real interview until tomorrow is being protective, not sticking it to anyone, and that's how it's going to be seen. 

Maybe the hope is that by stopping Palin from getting interviewed, she can remain aloft and maintain her star-power?  If she gets pulled down to what her position on the mortgage crisis is, what her old church just did, and so on, she might become more of what Obama has become: a generic politician.

But the media has been getting really rankled.  The reporters who sit idly, carted around on the press plane but denied access to events, and can't write a single story for two weeks are less than pleased and are starting to become suspicious. 

They'll forget it all, McCain hopes, after the debates when Palin has been fully briefed on all the issues and finally grants a few Q&A's, but I've written a bunch about their recent attacks on the media too, and this has gotten ridiculous.  Attacking the NYT (calling it no longer a journalism, and falsely citing things its failed to cover), and then accusing one of Politico's top reporters and doers of being "in the tank" for Obama is absurd.  Denying CNN their mild and solid-reporting editorialist to cover Karzai, a fairly mild change overall, is absurd.  Punishing CBS for their reporter asking Palin a question is absurd.

Obama's been treated FAR worse than McCain/Palin has in the last week or two by FOX/Drudge/etc. but he's not going to war with the outlets.  It's not about the candidate vs. the media except when the media oversteps its boundaries, then you call foul, the rest of the media gangs up on the offending outlet, and everyone backs off, giving you some breathing room.  Calling an extreme foul when there is none is bad, bad, bad.