Jan 9, 2009 8:40 am US/Central
Palin: Couric, Fey Exploited Me
Rips Into Media Coverage Of Her Campaign
This article was written by Scott Conroy
(CBS News)
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Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin waves to supporters as she arrives for Republican presidential candidate John McCain's election night rally at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa on Nov. 4, 2008, in McCain's home town of Phoenix.
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says CBS News anchor Katie Couric and comic actress Tina Fey have been "exploiting" her.
In an interview with conservative documentary filmmaker John Ziegler conducted at her Wasilla home, Palin said she was the victim of unfair media coverage and wondered aloud whether Democrat Caroline Kennedy would benefit from fawning treatment from the press in her bid to become the junior senator from New York because of her social class.
"I've been interested to see how Caroline Kennedy will be handled and if she will be handled with kid gloves or if she will be under such a microscope," Palin said. "It's going to be interesting to see how that plays out, and I think that as we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove that there is a class issue here also that was such a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy versus, say, the scrutiny of what her candidacy may be."
Portions of the interview, which was conducted for Ziegler's upcoming film, "How Obama Got Elected," were released on YouTube.
Palin gave Couric a rare interview at the beginning of her campaign, and Fey frequently impersonated Palin on "Saturday Night Live."
A journalism major in college, Palin was a frequent critic of media coverage during her vice presidential campaign but repeatedly affirmed her respect for the Fourth Estate, even offering to do what she could to make improvements in journalistic ethics.
Palin says she thinks there may be a "class issue" involved in the news coverage of Kennedy and her own bid for office.
She said the media seem to have handled Kennedy with "kid gloves" - in contrast to the battering she says she and her family took during last year's presidential campaign.
She particularly singled out the Couric interview as what she felt was condescending, particularly a question about what books she reads and, "What do you guys do up there?"
Palin told Ziegler that if she had been Barack Obama's running mate rather than McCain's, media coverage of her would have been much more positive. But she declined to assert that perceived liberal bias was the primary reason for the treatment she received from the press during her two-month national campaign.
"Is it political? Is it sexism?" she asked. "What is it that drives someone to believe the worst and perpetuate the worst in terms of gossip and lies?"
Palin also complained about news reports suggesting that Trig Palin was not her son and said she was "frustrated" by rampant rumors about her and her family.
The governor said news organizations respected Barack Obama's declaration that his family was off-limits for coverage but did not accord her the same courtesy.
"I wasn't believed that Trig was really my son," she said. She called it a "sad state of affairs."
"What is the double-standard here," she asked. "Why would people choose to believe lies. What is it that drives people to believe the worst, perpetuate the worst?"
"When did we start accepting as hard news sources bloggers, anonymous bloggers especially?" she asked.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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