The Media’s Obsession with Sarah Palin

It is true that Sarah Palin arouses passions in American society. Many on the left despise her for representing everything they hate most about conservative America. In response, many within the Christian right consider her a hero, capable of a bold defense of their values, and therefore the victim of a presumably liberal media.

It is also true that, if she decided to jump into the arena of the Republican primary, Palin would have some chance of winning. Most polls place her second in the Republican base, with about 15 percent of the base’s support. Interestingly enough, they also note that within the conservative electorate, she is a polarizing figure as well. In fact, according to a CBS poll, 54 percent of Republicans do not want her to be part of the presidential election.

Nevertheless, all of this does not justify the exaggerated attention that the U.S. media dedicates to Sarah Palin. This media coverage cannot merely be the result of reader interest. Instead, the real obsession over her exists in the newsrooms. Otherwise, it would make no sense. One example is the frenzy for information concerning the publication of the 13,000 e-mails sent by Palin from 2006 to 2008, when she was governor of Alaska.

Both The New York Times and The Washington Post, two major newspapers in the country, sent a team of reporters to Juneau, the hidden capital of Alaska, to study the e-mails. Due to their inability to digest the vast amount of information quickly — some 24,000 pages that were tucked in six boxes weighing about 20 kilos each — they asked readers for help interpreting them through their websites.

Two days after the publication of the e-mails, without having found any “bombshell,” all the frenzy of the previous days seems even more misplaced. It is curious that the e-mails would generate such excitement in the media, especially considering that in addition to the 24,000 pages made public, they were well aware of the existence of another 2,000 that the government of Alaska has not “declassified.” Surely if there is any secret that is of real public interest, it is precisely there, tightly locked in an office in Juneau.