declared the mainstream media broken. I agree. Transcript
via Newsbusters:
SARAH PALIN: It's kind of full circle for me. I 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.
[ Cheers and
applause ]
LENO: Oh, fair and balanced.
PALIN: Fair and balanced, yes. You know because,
Jay, those years ago that I studied journalism,
it was all about the who, what, when, where and
why. It was not so much the opinion interjected in hard
news stories. So, I would like to see, well, in order to build
trust in the media because it is a corner stone of our
democracy, Americans deserve to have more of that
factual fairness.
LENO: You know, I watch, I'm always amazed -- [ applause ]
I think it's fair to say MSNBC, a lot of people feel has one opinion
and Fox has another opinion. But you know what it is, I watch
both. I mean, I switch around. And I like to get all sides of
all stories.
[ Applause ]I mean, I'm always amazed that people feel, "Oh, you only want --"
if you like -- I just don't watch what I like. I like to watch
what other people like just to get a feel for it.
PALIN: That is healthy and that's helpful. As long as there is
not the opinion under the guise of hard news story
though. I think that there needs to be clear differentiation.
Leno and Palin hit on many of the big issues facing our media. One is
that people are becoming partisan in their media habits. Mr. Leno says,
"I don't watch what I like. I like to watch what other people like other
people like just to get a feel for it." Too many are getting their news
from outlets that confirm their perspective and not challenge it.
Another issue that is touched on is the lack of differentiation between
opinion and hard news. When a network has a television pundit like
Keith Olbermann doing election night coverage, it's a problem.
So what do you think: Is the mainstream broken? And if so, how shall
it be fixed?
Video of the interview:
