Assault on the Media: When Politicians Attack

When politicians go on the attack it is a sure sign that it is campaign season, and the targets often are other politicians. However, as the New York Times wrote yesterday, in this election cycle, it would seem that the politicians are fighting mad at the news media.

For as long as there have been politicians and media there has been a tension between the institutions (recall Nixon's famous quote "The press is the enemy" from years ago). Politicians want great press of course, and love to get media endorsements.

However they don't always love the coverage, and recently many (especially on the right) have seemed to drop all pretenses and ignored the conventional wisdom that says you should not pick fights with those who buy ink by the barrelful.

The article lised the the litany of media attacks on journalists.  Please visit the link for the full story, and see below for excerpts.

• …security guards for Joe Miller, a Republican Senate candidate from Alaska, handcuffed a reporter…
• Charles B. Rangel, the famously cantankerous Democrat from Harlem, castigated an MSNBC reporter as television cameras rolled… “It’s a dumb question, and I’m not going to respond,” Mr. Rangel said in July, dismissing a question about his ethics violations case before adding a gleeful “Next!”
• Carl Paladino, the Republican candidate for governor in New York, had to be physically separated from a reporter for The New York Post last month as the two engaged in a tense shouting match…“I’ll take you out, buddy,” Mr. Paladino snarled as he jabbed a finger at the reporter.
• Sharron Angle, the Republican Senate hopeful in Nevada… recently shushed a local television reporter before he could even ask his question. On Friday, the Angle campaign banned two local television stations from its election night party after their reporters surprised her with questions at the airport.
• And in Delaware last week, Christine O’Donnell, a Republican Senate candidate, threatened to sue a radio station if it released a video tape of an interview she had just conducted.
• Sarah Palin, who often appears proudly contemptuous of what she calls “the lame-stream media,” and Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who has accused the press of treason, have made a sport of needling journalists this year.