Saturday, April 9, 2011

Professor Addresses Lack Of Journalism Regarding Possible Palin Pregnancy Hoax

Bradford Scharlott, Associate Professor for Journalism at Northern Kentucky University, had taken to task deconstructing the lack of authentic journalism in regards to Sarah Palin's alleged pregnancy of child Trig Paxson Van Palin.
But it’s fair to ask if the U.S. press should have treated the fake pregnancy rumor as untouchable, both in 2008 and up to the present day. After all, if there seemed to be any real chance that the rumor was true, that might mean that a candidate for the vice presidency had staged a hoax about the birth of a Down syndrome child and then used that birth to promote her political career. This article looks at what American journalists knew, and when they knew it, concerning the fake birth rumor – and it finds there was insufficient evidence for the press to conclude that Palin was telling the truth about Trig. The article then looks at what factors may have caused the press to give Palin more deference than she was due, and how journalists might have reacted differently. Finally, the article considers how the spiral of silence theory casts light on press performance relative to the Trig hoax rumor and, relatedly, the Obama fake birth-certificate rumor.
You can download the report here.

The paper is extremely interesting and poses many questions the mainstream media failed to address and makes us wonder just why should we believe Trig is Palin's child when no proof was offered, and yes it is an issue considering the woman ran for an executive office of the federal government and continues to toy with the idea of running for president.  As Americans, we should be aware if our next president purposefully covered up a pregnancy for any reason, for doing so would show serious moral and ethical questions.

Scharlott's paper has already upset allies of Palin, causing Palin's former spokesperson, Bill McAllister, to email the professor with all sorts of nasty things to say, and as Politicalgates points out, adds to the questionability surrounding Palin's "pregnancy" - McAllister claimed rumors regarding Trig only surfaced when Palin was nominated and that despite him claiming to be the "most connected politics reporter," there is plenty of evidence that McAllister was fully aware people were talking about Palin's lack of a baby bump and who the real mother could be. 

This also makes you wonder - why is Palin's former spokesperson, once a lowly reporter who was elevated to such a high position shortly after coming into contact with supposedly-pregnant GovernorPalin, is trying to put the kibosh on Professor Scharlott's paper?

Read more about Sarah Palin's pregnancy at Palingates' Babygate page to see just what exactly Scharlott is talking about (Palingates goes into more depth surrounding the events).

One thing is for certain - Scharlott can expect plenty of FOIA requests from right-wingers intent on discrediting the professor and destroying his career...

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