ABC-TV: The Palin Interview

by Monique Ozanne
mo724104@ohio.edu


I am confident that during this past weekend, both Democrats, Republicans and political enthusiasts of this election were all tuned in to ABC News, watching Charles Gibson’s interviews with Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. What is most interesting about the interview, is why Palin picked ABC’s Charles Gibson out of all of the other media outlets? In another one of my class we discussed this same topic, and found ourselves in deep thought and debate over this question? It is no doubt that she one of the most sought-out interviewees right now, but what swayed her campaign in ABC’s direction? We came up with reasons such as Charles Gibson being a more experienced journalist, not being a woman, and less likely to attack and surprise Palin and her campaign with the really harsh questions. Nonetheless, I thought the coverage and stories surrounding the interview were very well done and tasteful.



ABC reporter Kate Snow did an excellent package preceding the second interview with the Governor that highlighted what has been said and shown during the past 14 days that the country has become to know Palin.

Along with the interviews done with Palin, ABC has covered the candidates on the imminent issue of the economic crisis. I was surprised and glad to see the thorough coverage done on both candidates with this issue, and the politically friendly debates ABC set up for the viewer on this topic.

Among all the attention surrounding the nation’s economic crisis, ABC also featured coverage of Hurricane Ike. I was impressed to see that ABC’s coverage featured the actual hurricane, the damage it has done and how public officials are handling the situation. I remember watching coverage of Hurricane Katrina and seeing how a lot of coverage focused on helpless victims raiding Wal-Mart and other stories because they had lost everything in the storm. During Hurricane Katrina, the coverage was negative, and caused a lot of Americans to feel less sympathetic to the victims because they were steeling from stores. The media, especially ABC has shown that they have learned their lesson and to focus the story on the tragedy and victims.