Sarah Palin continues to play herself as the victim.
Even when “the hostile media” actually tries to help her out.
Gov. Palin’s press office claims that she has pointed out errors in Daily News coverage that we have refused to correct. The only such complaints of which I’m aware are below, in an email from Gov. Palin to the publisher and me.
I posted a portion of these two emails last week in a naïve effort to explain that the newspaper never took seriously the conspiracy theory that the governor did not give birth to her son Trig, but that recently we had made an effort to document his birth in pursuit of a story about why the Trig rumors, while baseless, are apparently so widespread and persistent.
The earlier post sent a number of adn.com readers off the deep end, including some websites and bloggers who denounced the paper for our “anti-Palin story.” I had to chalk that up to a reading comprehension problem, since no story was ever published.
A lot of bloggers who should know better, have been aiding and abetting Sarah Palin’s continued attempts to portray herself as a victim of bad reporting only-bearing no responsibility for her own mistakes-in an effort to: 1) Keep her name in the news and 2) transfer blame for the failed election campaign to anyone else but the supposed ” future of the Republican party.”
That’s why right wing bloggers have been playing over and over, clips from John Ziegler’s upcoming puff piece How Obama won the election. In the video she, makes snide coments about any and every one-and Ziegler, who is an asshole entertainer, not a reporter, makes it look like it is something other than staged whining.
What she never addresses, is why she is so hesitant even now-to simply confront the truth:
And, oh, I could go on . . .
Governor, I would encourage you to go on. I cannot address your concerns if I do not hear them. Perhaps after reading this you will conclude that the facts are not exactly as you thought, or that there was more to these issues than you knew. I hope you see that we have tried hard to practice sound journalism. We may have trusted the accuracy of the AP too much, but I won’t know that for sure until you confirm that Levi will graduate from high school.
When we heard that you were upset about Lisa’s inquiries, we immediately extended an invitation to your office for you to meet with me and other editors so we could explain our interest in the Trig matter, and answer any other questions you might have. As far as I know, that invitation was never acknowledged.
We remain willing and available to meet with you to discuss these or any other issues. I would be happy to meet with you one on one, as would Pat Doyle, or as part of any group of editors and publisher you would like. Based on our experience, I do not think it would be constructive to include Bill McAllister, but that’s up to you.
If I have not addressed your concerns fully enough, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Pat Dougherty
The governor never responded to the e-mail. Because when confronted with an opportunity to lay rumors to rest-Sarah Palin would rather be a victim.
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Speaking of media bias, I’ve also been following with interest the anticipated lawsuit by Michael Yon against Michael Moore. John Cole summarizes it pretty well:
You have to love the right wing’s ability to capitalize on victimization. If it isn’t the War on Christmas or Rachel Ray’s personal attack via scarf, it is something else, and now one of them has managed to elevate what should be a mundane copyright issue into… a national case:
MICHAEL Moore may wind up in court with a prize-winning journalist who claims the mountain-size moviemaker ripped off his most famous photo to use in a George W. Bush-bashing rant.
Last year, to illustrate one of his anti-administration bombasts, the portly polemicist posted on his michaelmoore.com Web site a heartbreaking photo from Iraq of an American soldier carrying the blood-spattered body of a child. The picture was snapped by acclaimed independent war correspondent Michael Yon, who has been very careful about how his images are distributed and goes out of his way to make sure they aren’t used for demagogic diatribes.
Yon – a Special Forces vet who posts regular dispatches from the front at michaelyon-online.com – is considered by many as the “Ernie Pyle of our time.”
Yon has tried to contact Moore for seven months to discuss his unauthorized use of the poignant snap, but hasn’t heard a word back from the director of “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Now, the fed-up photojournalist has told his lawyer to ready a lawsuit against Moore for copyright infringement.
Oh, shut up and just file the damned suit. And, as has been noted, this isn’t about copyright infringement, per se, but about ideology.
PS- Michael Moore is fat.
File away Michael Yon. It seems to me that the case will hinge on whether the photo is in the public domain or not-I’m betting there is a better than 50/50 chance it is. If its not in the public domain, Yon might have a chance at winning, but he might want to think about the whole host of other outlets that have already used his photo in anti Iraq articles. He could be in court for years.
If it is in the public domain-he doesn’t have a case. Nor should he. Michale Yon is proud of being a cheerleader for the war. However copyright protection either exists or it doesn’t. And, as I understand it, it’s not a selective kind of thing. He can’t control the message unless he is truly in ownership of the copyright. And I’ll bet, there are a whole host of legal reasons why the photo can be used without his permission.
Plus, if a lawsuit is in the wind, what incentive is there for Moore to respond? When you contact someone and claim that they have done something unauthorized and await their reply….what exactly are you waiting for? An admission of guilt? It doesn’t work that way. Yon either has to force the issue through a venue that issues subpoenas-or else its just a giant bluff.
That will cost him money either way-and Moore probably has more resources to tap than Yon does. Which is why I think this will never see the light of a courtroom. However, it does give Michael Yon an excellent fund raising gimmick. Which is exactly what he asks for at the end of his post on “the Picture”.
Now to make that statement is not to like or defend Moore. Moore is an asshole. It is however, a statement of the law and the precedents that to date have seen lawsuits against Moore for exactly the same reason thrown out of court. Don’t have to like it-it is what it is. Public Domain does not come with an ideology caveat.
However it is interesting to see the same conservatives praise Ziegler for doing exactly the same thing Michael Moore does. In my book they are both , equally despicable.
As a matter of law, the truth of your story is irrelevant. We have no knowledge the story is false. Therefore, we’re absent malice.-from the movie of the same name.
I disagree with your categorization of Michael Yon as “right wing”. I think he was “pro-US military” and “pro-surge” in his writings, and most of the Democratic strategy in 2006-7 was based on being opposed to the Iraq war, so that would indirectly have him fall into the dreaded “wingnut” realm. Guilt by association I suppose.
I’m pro military too. Where Mr. Yon and I disagree is on the utility and benefit to the US military of their presence in Iraq. I remain convinced the longer we stay in that God forsaken country, the more damage it does to the position of the US-and its military- as a whole. US objectives were accomplished a long time ago-and they are the only people that I care about.
So I guess that makes me “anti-surge”, which I think is a misnomer. I’m anti “getting 4225 Americans killed, 30,000 wounded for a country that cannot take care of itself”.
Furthermore, Yon has been lionized by right wing bloggers-when in fact he is one voice among many in reporting from that country. He is held up as an example of “unbiased media”-when in fact it is just as biased as any 9ther reporting outlet. All media is biased one way or another-which is OK. The reader should be competent enough to read from different view points.
The real issue, I believe, is that by freely allowing use of his work by those who are sympathetic to him-he has most probably diluted his legal case. But that is not what he hopes to accomplish. By using everyone’s revulsion about Michael Moore- I suspect he hopes to revive his fund raising.
A few posts back, in another context, I mentioned the Buraku and was surprised to see an article today that Japan has Nonsaki as PM, a Buraku.
Progress.
Skippy,
Agree with your points on some right-bloggers for overusing his work, but I’m just making a point about John Cole’s dismissal of journalism as “right wing” because he may disagree with it. A very lazy form of criticism.
The interesting thing about John Cole is that he used to be a Bushophile. 8 years of this administration cured him of that though.
The issue of public domain vs cheerleader for the war is a red herring. The copyright issue is whether or not Moore had permission to use the photo or it is fair use. Fair use normally applies to something other than what Moore is doing. Even in fair use, the courteous ask permission and cite the source. Even if you don’t ask, citations are required, unless you are a plagiarist. If the use is permissive, then copyright is not an issue.
There are questions about Moore’s use of the picture. If I were a betting man I’d be willing to bet a lot that you are dead wrong about the public domain contention. Simply allowing the use of the photo does not place it in the public domain, nor does it weaken his case. If the court sticks to the law, Moore may well be in very deep trouble. I put Moore’s chances at a lot less than 50/50 in his favor.
It would help Moore if he weren’t such an odious individual to begin with.
I think you mistaking citation for asking permission. Citations are required-but in Moore’s medium he only has to note the source in the credits and that source may not be Yon-it could be someone who reprinted Yon’s picture. There is a point when Yon stops “owning” the picture-especially in today’s digital world.
Moore has been down this road several times and he’s won in court every time. However as I said-Yon is not doing this to win in court. He’s doing it to galvanize his audience.