Why does Sarah Palin spend so much time on Fox News "opinion" programming?
March 16, 2010 3:11 pm ET by Karl Frisch
Earlier in the year when it was announced that Sarah Palin would be joining Fox News as a contributor, the former half-term Alaska Governor was quoted as saying, "I am thrilled to be joining the great talent and management team at Fox News...It's wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news."
Then on March 2, during Jay Leno's first week back at the helm of NBC's Tonight Show, Palin appeared as a guest. Responding to Leno's question about having joined the media -- i.e. Fox News -- Palin said (emphasis added):
"I had studied journalism...my college degree there in communications and now I am back there wanting to build some trust back in our media. I think that the mainstream media is quite broken and I think that there needs to be the fairness, the balance in there...that's why I joined Fox."
[...]
"Those years ago that I studied journalism, it was all about the who, what, where, when and why. It was not so much the opinion interjected in hard news stories. So, I would like to see, in order to build trust in the media, because it is a cornerstone of our democracy, Americans deserve to have more of that factual fairness."
If Palin did join Fox News to "build some trust back in the media" harkening back to the good old days when reports were "not so much the opinion interjected in hard news stories," then why does she spend so much time on what Fox News describes as its "opinion" programs?
According to a quick Nexis search, Palin has appeared on the following Fox News "opinion" shows since joining the network:
1/12/2010 - The O'Reilly Factor
1/13/2010 - Glenn Beck
1/14/2010 - Hannity
1/19/2010 - On the Record with Greta Van Susteren
1/20/2010 - The O'Reilly Factor
1/20/2010 - Hannity
1/27/2010 - Hannity
1/27/2010 - On the Record with Greta Van Susteren
1/28/2010 - On the Record with Greta Van Susteren
2/16/2010 - The O'Reilly Factor
2/25/2010 - Hannity
Don't get me wrong, I don't for a second buy the idea that there is a distinction between what Fox News purports to be its "news" and "opinion" programming, but the conservative network certainly makes that case, without much to show in terms of evidence, at every turn.
I think they just don't want to go to the expense of building a new set and promoting a show where the host is likely to quit after less than a year.
My take is that she insists on not using a teleprompter and her hands are just way too small for everything she'd have to remember.
Dick Morris is just a paid commercial for dickmorris.com
If I could make that kind of make money by displaying such ineptitude and propensity to lie while still being able to sleep at night, I would do it, too.
She should have never been foisted on the American public as a potential president. She is incompetent and not very intelligent.
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The Midnight Review
Because it's what she can do; any dunce can have an opinion.
1. Remember the basics
Tell the reader who, what, where, when, why and how. Use standard English spelling, punctuation and grammar.
2. Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy!
Joseph Pulitzer's three rules of journalism hold true today. Make sure you get it right. Facts, figures and spellings must be accurate.
3. Find your focus
What's the story? What's the point? If you can't say it in 25 words or less, you probably haven't found your focus.
4. Think short
Use short words in short sentences in short paragraphs in short articles.
5. Strive to be objective
Don't let your opinions or those of the sources get in the way of a straight, objective story. Remember, your main obligation is to the reader, who wants the unvarnished truth. Write what the reader wants to know, which is not necessarily what the source wants to say.
Is her vocabulary that big?
I could sum it up in one word, but I can't think of the word that is the polar opposite of "gravitas."