Fighting Mad, at the News Media

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From Jeremy W. Peters at nytimes.com:

Much has been made this election cycle about the eagerness of many candidates to bypass the mainstream news media in favor of social networking or media outlets that they perceive to be embracing of their political platforms. But some politicians have taken their distaste and mistrust of journalists a step further, opening a direct assault on the news media as an institution.

Sarah Palin, who often appears proudly contemptuous of what she calls “the lame-stream media,” and Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who has accused the press of treason, have made a sport of needling journalists this year.

And while tension between the news media and politicians has always been a factor in campaigns, the civility that has generally kept relations from breaking into outright feuding has been shattered.

“The relationship is probably at a low point between politicians and the media, particularly on the right,” Nicolle Wallace, a former communications strategist for George W. Bush and John McCain told the nytimes.com.  “There are certain Republicans who can do both, who speak to the base of the Republican Party and are skeptical but not disdainful of the media. Then there is the Sarah Palin wing of the party, which passed skeptical long ago and is at war with the media.”

Ms. Palin, not one to mince words, has been the news media’s chief antagonist on the right. In an interview with Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, she excoriated journalists who use anonymous sources as “impotent, limp and gutless,” apparently a reaction to an unflattering Vanity Fair article about her that used anonymous quotations.

In her farewell speech as Alaska governor, Ms. Palin — who has a degree in communications and is a former local television sportscaster — said journalism “could and should be a respected, honest profession.” She added: “That’s why our troops are willing to die for you. So how about in honor of the American soldier, you quit making things up?”

News media experts say that an attack-the-press strategy can make sense as a pure political play. While polling has shown that majorities of Republicans and conservatives have long harbored suspicions about the news media, there has been a surge in negative feelings among Democrats and liberals.

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