ABCNews.com is raising the question: Is Oprah biased with regards to the Republican vice president candidate, Sarah Palin? Almost immediately Oprah came out with the following statement:
“At the beginning of the presidential campaign, when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates, I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over.”
The big problem people are having with this statement is that Oprah is appearing to conflict her very own position. She made the decision to not use her show as a platform for any of the candidates but she had no problem having Barack on her show or campaigning for him. Sure, the argument could be made that Oprah campaigning for Barack isn’t biased, she is doing what she believes nt but it’s hard to support that argument when your name is synonymous with your show and magazine.
I look at this whole situation and ask “so what”.
Oprah isn’t the “news media” she is an entertainer. Yes, she is a very influential entertainer, with seemingly endless fans who give heavy weight to what she says but she doesn’t need to provide equal coverage to anyone. It’s her show and she can do what she damn well wants.
This is one issue I wish would simply fade into the background because it’s not really worth the time or effort. Oprah could very well be biased but the American public has a general sense of right and wrong. If public opinion does convict her, she will feel the short-term pain in loss of viewer ship or distribution of her magazine – that is when her tone will change.