Saturday, January 22, 2011

Media Boycotts of Palin

Professor William Jacobson at Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion weighs in on the Washington Post's backing of a call to boycott mention of Sarah Palin in the month of February. Columnist Dana Milbank is leading the charge.
"If this were just another case of Palin Derangement Syndrome, it probably would not be worth a post[.]

"But as documented at Big Journalism (h/t Instapundit) WaPo is using its pages to promote Milbank's other brilliant idea, a mainstream media boycott of Palin going beyond Milbank's column. WaPo has used its Twitter account and has run online polls in support of Milbank's boycott."
This is serious in the same way the White House attempt to keep Fox News out of the White House pool was serious.

If the White House or media heavyweights can de facto deprive people of First Amendment rights (free press and free speech in terms of barring not for legitimate content issues but for who says it), that is a body blow to American democracy.

The only thing that makes this a "light" issue is that the White House bid failed, and WaPo's bid will too. Otherwise the implications are chilling.

If media heavyweights could have forced Sarah Palin off the stage, they would have done it long ago without a "just for fun" upfront campaign. But Governor Palin has created direct access links to the public on a level not only far greater than columnists like Milbank, but equal to The New York Times or CBS.

As I have commented before, conservative writers like Ross Douthat and Matt Labash have also expressed their desire for widespread ignoring of Palin. (Milbank directly mentions Douthat as someone on the Right sympathetic to a boycott.) So, one can't say that only those in the media Left have these "I wish the people I don't like would disappear" moments.

The spillover to Republican politics is clear. Professor Jacobson:
But since she is "not electable" because of this media bias, we should throw Palin overboard and demand she not run and not be taken seriously by Republican voters, right?
Conservatives (and Republicans) endanger themselves as well as minorities when they treat this "totalitarianism light" as merely cute or a joke--even when the attempts to block a news organization or a major political figure turn out to be toothless because of the target. It is a window into the soul of a strand of modern political thought that too many in the elite media share on the Right as well as the Left.

UPDATE:
I couldn't pass this up.

2 comments:

Bill589 said...

The silent treatment. So often, the LSM’s behavior makes me think of elementary school days.

The Left seems to attack Sarah constantly. Whether she’s saying or doing anything or not. Going by their behavior, I only see one politician on the Right, that the Left considers the major threat.

I wish more people on our side would at least defend her. Don’t support her for president if she’s not the best choice, but she’s a fighter on our side. We should treat her as such.

In the primary, Republicans need to take it to the mattresses - no holds barred. But no contenders, nor their supporters, should allow the Left to pick our Republican nominee for us. That includes letting the Left diminish ones who they think, rightly or wrongly, are their biggest threat.

If the Left is successful at diminishing SP, it assures that they will target, freeze, polarize, and use whatever other deceitful darts and arrows they can conjure up on the next one of us THEY choose.

IMO: Not this time. United we stand.

T. D. said...

Yep. Well said, Bill.

Sarah Palin has consistently fought for conservative principles. She deserves respect for that. Conservative pundits who don't honor those fighting in the trenches diminish themselves.

Let's have a good debate in the primaries and choose the best candidate. Contested primaries fought on the issues sharpen everyone.

Thanks for your comment.