Candidates need to cooperate with the media

By: Freesia Singngam

Posted: 9/8/08

All politics aside, the media needs to be able to do its job. That means asking tough questions and digging deeper into what's going on. The media gives the public information that helps them make informed decisions when it comes to participating in a democratic society.

When the media does its job, it helps politicians further what they say they're working toward, which is a better, freer society.

When Republican presidential nominee John McCain refused to be interviewed on "Larry King Live" this past Tuesday, he highlighted the growing rift between Republicans and the media.

"McCain spokeswoman Maria Comella said the campaign canceled the interview because of 'a relentless refusal by certain on-air reporters to come to terms with John McCain's selection of Alaska's sitting governor as our party's nominee for vice president,'" the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

This "relentless refusal" refers to when CNN anchor Campbell Brown asked McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds what Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin really did as commander of the Alaska National Guard.

During the heated exchange Bounds asks Brown if she means to belittle Palin. Brown, in return, said she was belittling nothing - she wanted Bounds to name one decision Palin made as Commander-In-Chief of the Alaska National Guard.

Bounds then said that as governor, Palin "makes a decision how to equip or how to command the National Guard in Alaska," at which point Brown interrupted him to say that the Pentagon makes those decisions.

Many Republicans believe that the media has focused positive attention on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and has attacked his opponents in its reports and interviews. In turn, they have attacked the media and accused it of being "liberal."

This isn't the first case of Republicans attacking the media. NewsBlues.com compiled these instances in one of their recent articles, "Attack When Cornered." The Web site noted that Lee Atwater, advisor of former U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, "directed a head-on push against the media, confronting aggressive reporting as negative, and coining the phrase "liberal mainstream media" during the 1988 H.W. Bush campaign. That year, at the Republican National Convention, delegates chanted, "Tell the truth! Tell the truth!" to the media skyboxes, NewsBlues reported.

"Fox News, fathered by former Republican strategist Roger Ailes, was born as a response to this perception," NewsBlues reported.

Palin, who lately has been scrutinized by the media, took a jibe at the media in her speech at the Republican National Convention.

"I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone," Palin said.

When watching or reading interviews and reports on Palin, this isn't always the case. Interviews printed verbatim, like the CNN one, have shown that reporters and anchors do ask reasonable questions.

While it may seem to Republicans that the media is against them, their best defense is to answer the pressing questions. Canceling interviews, especially canceling ones with Larry King, who the Wall Street Journal called "one of the gentlest and highest-viewed interviewers in television news," only hurts politicians and puts them in a bad light.

Yes, Palin has been under constant scrutiny, with stories spinning about her teenage daughter's pregnancy and her political decisions, but the American people want and need to know everything about her because if McCain wins the election, Palin is just a heartbeat away from the presidency.

The media is the only venue most people have to aquire information about candidates like Palin. If a biased media outlet brings a politician with an opposing view in for an interview, that politician has the opportunity to defend his or her views. If these candidates keep refusing interviews and attacking the media, the people won't have much to base their vote on, which is a very frightening thought.