History was being made in the United States’ politics in the year 2008. There was the possibility of choosing the first African-American president, the first female president or the first female vice president. It was a war between maintaining the status quo and the change that was so badly needed.
Though many people got the information that was not the right information due to misreporting by media agencies, the truth was within their reach. Sarah Palin was not as unqualified as the media would want us to believe. There were a lot of factors at play than what we were able to note. Sarah Palin received biased reports especially by the media which propagated the idea that she was unqualified.
Sara Palin received unfavorable coverage from the media which concentrated more on her private life than that of her male counter part. To begin with, the family and personal life of Sarah Palin was given much attention by the media than was the private lives of her male counterparts.
This portrayed Palin as a failure in areas where she had actually excelled. The Obama campaign team had argued that Sarah had no experience for running the country. On the contrary, Palin had substantial experience in corporate governance, if that was what ordinary American voters were to look at. Unfortunately that was not given much public coverage as was other matters.
It is always expected that during elections, people will choose those who have led by example to be their leaders. However, many voters who do not get the chance of meeting the candidates physically make choices depending on the media coverage. Therefore, it should be noted that media has great influence on the number of people who make up their minds to vote somebody in, or out for that matter. Consequently, the media coverage that Palin got was not to her favor and this made her loose a lot of votes.
It was sad to see how Obama campaign team’s criticisms on Palin’s experience got substantial media coverage yet her strong points were not aired as such. On the same note, Obama just as Palin was a senator who was seeking a higher elective post. It is ironical that while Palin received a lot of negative arguments regarding her experience, Obama received minimal if any at all. It should be noted that if corporate experience was to be the determining factor then Palin was experienced compared to Obama.
Furthermore, Sarah Palin was campaigning against the stereotype that women are inferior and could not rule over the American economy. It was clear from various media productions that women aspirants were subjected to different type of questions regarding their family affairs contrary to their male counterparts.
On the same note, it can be noted that the dressing style of Sarah Palin was closely monitored throughout the campaign period, while that of Joe Biden her counter part was not even talked about. Similarly, the stand of Sarah Palin on the sexism was put into scrutiny while male counter parts were not scrutinized on the same.
It is clear that sexism issues played a center stage in Palin’s campaigns. Compared to her competitors, Palin was well placed to handle the national issues. However, the media was selective and highly criticized Palin based on selective aspects which were not used on the male contestants. Subsequently, Palin was pined down because she was judged based on her gender instead of the principles she represented.