Cross Aisle Owned Media Airing Palin

In this article entitled “Five Million Watch Debut of Sarah Palin TV Show” on ABCNews’ website it talks about the recently aired “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” reality show on TLC. This television show is an apparent look at the inside life of Sarah Palin and her family while also being considered a “travel show.” After reading this article I tend to agree with the writer, that this 8 episode series seems to be more of a 8 episode campaign ad rather than a true travel show. It seems hard not to argue that this may be a perfect example of mass media and the role it plays in political campaigns as there has already been talk of Palin running for president in 2012. However, after doing more research into TLC and it’s parent company’s owner, I was very surprised to see his past political donations actually fell in the Hillary Clinton campaign and other well known democratic candidates. This really surprised me as we studied early the amount of pull media often has in setting agendas, especially within possible election campaigns. It shocked me that a supporter of a potential rival, and competitor would give publicity and free media to a potential candidate without somehow editing the show to tarnish her credibility. I guess only one episode has been shown thus far and there is plenty of room for TLC to show their intentions in presenting this outlet for Palin, however they better figure it out quick with the response ABCNews has found some people are starting to catch the Palin fever already!

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=12153752