Kurtz: Journalists Privately Admit to Censoring Palin Coverage

WaPo media critic Howie Kurtz says some journalists admit they're self-censoring their coverage of Republican vice presidential nominee's flailing incompetence, lest they be perceived as "piling on":

While some journalists say privately they are censoring their comments about Palin to avoid looking like they're piling on, pundits on the right are jumping ship. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough says Palin "just seems out of her league." National Review Editor Rich Lowry called her performance "dreadful." Dallas Morning News columnist Rod Dreher described the interview as a "train wreck." Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker urged Palin to quit the race, saying: "If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself."

The interview is drawing extraordinary attention because of the McCain campaign's calculated decision to shield Palin from reporters. No vice-presidential nominee in modern history has been this inaccessible to the media, reinforcing the perception that she can't hit major-league pitching. When the networks balked at recording Palin's photo ops with foreign leaders at the U.N. last week unless journalists were allowed in -- and a CNN producer was granted access for all of 29 seconds -- the no-press dictum degenerated into farce. [WaPo]

Happily, your faithful correspondent has no compunctions about covering Sarah Palin's faults and foibles. Check out my new piece in AlterNet on the Wasilla rape kit saga.