Petrelis Files

CBS VP:
Palin's Lack of News Conferences Not Important

Reason number 369 I am so over the corporate media is the belief by a top honcho at CBS News that it's no big deal the woman who may become vice president of the USA, and scary heartbeat away from the presidency, hasn't held one news conferences since she was selected for the GOP ticket.

What I interpret in the quote below from Paul Friedman is that Katie Couric's chats with Sarah Palin are boosting ratings for his news division and driving lots of eyeballs to the CBS News web site, reasons why he's not complaining that Palin has so far failed to meet the press in a news conference setting.

Friedman may not think the tight bubble encasing Palin, keeping her away from media Q & A sessions that aren't exclusives is part of a "stage" she's going through, like puberty, which she'll soon outgrow, I believe the American voter and our democracy are ill-served by shielding Palin so tightly from reporters.

Someone should tell this out-of-touch news executive that the 90-minute Biden/Palin debate this Thursday is simply not enough probing of both candidates who want to start living in the Naval Observatory come January.

Free Sarah Palin! Let Her Hold a News Conference!

From this morning's SF Chronicle:

"All politicians go through a stage where they want to minimize how much they are exposed to the media," said Paul Friedman, vice president of news at CBS, the network that scored one of the three major Palin interviews. He shrugged at what could be learned in a news conference that couldn't in a one-on-one interview. "I just don't think it is that cosmic of an issue. We'll see more of the candidates soon. Just wait for the debates."