Following The Huffington Post

Since the beginning of my residency in New York, The Huffington Post has consistently been my go-to for developing news. The cross between blogging and journalistic style writing has kept me coming back to The Huffington Postthese past few years becoming a well-frequented bookmark on my Internet Explorer.

This past week they featured an excerpt from a recent interview with Sarah Palin in Vanity Fair, aptly titled The Sound and the Fury (taken from William Faulkner’s novel by the same name, or if you really know your English Literature, originating from Macbeth’s soliloquy). Fortunately, the whole interview was available free-of-charge on Vanity Fair’s website, and proves to be a delectable tell-all from Michael Joseph Gross and his experience on the road with Sarah Palin.

This article is particularly engrossing, as Palin is renowned by the media for her obsessive, almost border-line paranoia, concealment of everything pertaining to her life in the public—ranging from her day to day activities to her coveted speeches attended by adoring Tea Party “patriots”. Within the article, Gross leaves no stone unturned, from detailing accounts of violent arguments with her husband Todd Palin (resulting in the replacement of numerous kitchen appliances), to tipping stingily of various hotel and restaurant wait staff unless it be witnessed by a sea of onlookers.

Gross insists from the beginning he had no intention of writing what has now been referred to as a “hit piece” about Palin. In fact, he states “I wrote this story against my will. It wasn’t what I wanted to write, it wasn’t what I wanted to fine. It was forced on me by the facts.”

What struck me the most after publication of the article was not the backlash received by Palin supporters, that could be expected, but the errors, that could be deemed insignificant, that were weeded out of the article in attempt to discredit and embarrass Gross. The Huffington Post posted another article soon after detailing a mistake Gross had made misidentifying Trig, Palin’s youngest son diagnosed with Down Syndrome, with another child with Down Syndrome after Gross had received clarification he was a different child. Although this detail plays a small role in the introductory paragraph of Gross’ article, and in no way influences the rest, Gross was forced to admit his mistake as he had indeed been wrong. This sparked a mini controversy over the validity of Gross’ word against the Palins’. Gross’ “intentional” mistake was marketed by Palin’s camp as a cut-and-dry example of Gross purposely manipulating information to create a sensationalized piece, a lame effort to lead the reader to question the authenticity of the rest of the article.

As a journalist one must always be ready to defend their article, especially when discussing a figure as controversial and notorious for feuding with the media such as Sarah Palin. Soon after another article appeared this time with Gross, admitting although he misidentified Trig, he had never been told otherwise insisting he had either been mistaken for another reporter or “Loudon has simply made everything up”. The continuing aftermath of Gross’ article indicates although he is finished writing his article it is not yet finished with him.