AUBURN, NY–Back before the 2008 election, we posted a piece on how Finger Lakes Times reporter Craig Fox had recycled a story from a rival paper and added little to the story but a chance for a Democrat to attack Sarah Palin.
He’s at it again.
In the Thursday (June 4 2009) Finger Lakes Times, Fox reports on a story that other local papers have reported on for weeks, namely, an upcoming visit by the former Republican Vice Presidential candidate (and current Alaska governor) to the city of Auburn, New York:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be coming to this Cayuga County city Saturday to pay homage to its long connection with her state.
Palin — Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s running mate last year — will travel to Auburn for Founders Day, which this year will celebrate 50 years of Alaska statehood.
Organizers have been working on the visit for months and got final confirmation just weeks ago that Palin would come to the city of 28,000.
However, unlike other local news organizations, Fox didn’t just report on the excitement caused by the visit of a national figure to the city. Instead, he made sure to include comments attacking the Alaska Governor:
not everyone is happy with the visit. Palin proved a polarizing figure, attracting ridicule as well as admiration during the presidential campaign.
While Fox’s observation is essentially true, the same could be said about any prominent politician, especially at the national level.
However, when reporting on stories about Democrats, such as President Barack Obama and even wildly unpopular New York Governor David Paterson, Fox never seems to include similar attacks.
It’s hard to understand why, in an era of declining newspaper revenue, the Times seems intent on letting at least one of its reporters display open bias (and risk offending at least half its readership). Who knows? Maybe the paper’s corporate owners are angling for some stimulus money.
2 Comments
June 5, 2009 at 5:43 am
It’s amusing to note that all those busily attacking Gov. Palin are still using warmed over, and much of the time, discredited stories from the campaign. It is like they are caught in a time warp. I imagine if she is the GOP nominee in 2012, the media will be dredging up Tina Fey, Couric, Bridge to Nowhere, troopergate, the wardrobe, all ancient history. Gov. Palin has moved on, leaving them to wallow in the mud like the pigs they are.
June 7, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Update: Fox is still attacking Palin and now doing so with inaccurate information. In the Sunday (June 7) Finger Lakes Times, Fox reports that Palin actually said “I can see Alaska from my house” when, in fact, as other local papers noted, Tina Fey (playing Palin) actually made the statement.