John King of CNN Hits Campaign Coverage

By: Greg Mitchell John King, chief CNN political correspondent, in an interview with South Carolina ETV taped Wednesday, admitted that some criticism of the media?s handling of election coverage is legitimate, that Sarah Palin has been treated differently and that some of his colleagues are indeed "out of touch." The interview airs on ?The Big Picture,? Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. E&P has been sent highlights.

"We did invest our thinking too much at the beginning, in the Clinton juggernaut,? he said. ?Of course, Senator Clinton was going to win?the Clinton name is the gold standard in Democratic politics. Of course she?s going to win. And so, when people say now we haven?t spent enough time looking at Barack Obama?s background, a lot of that was because people were looking at Senator Clinton early on as the frontrunner, and thinking ?Well, this guy, he?s going to mount a good race, but he can?t possibly beat her.? And then he does, and we?re on into the general election.

"I think there?s some very legitimate criticism that we did not treat all of the candidates in the Democratic race?particularly the top two or three?equally, because of the Clinton obsession in the national media. It is a very fair point. We need to learn that lesson.?

Has Sarah Palin been treated much differently by the press than her counterparts? King said, ?Part of that may be legitimate. Part of that may be how the McCain campaign put her out there. We whine too much sometimes. If the McCain campaign doesn?t want to make Sarah Palin available for interviews, OK, just say they won?t make her available for interviews. We don?t have to jump up and down and scream and cry about that?In today?s democracy, if she is doing talk radio, if she is going to town halls, if she is out campaigning, we should make note of it?it is not our job to whine or complain?

"If (people) think that?s important, if a voter thinks it?s important that she?s not doing the Sunday shows, then the voter will make their decision based on that. Other voters will think, ?So what? Why do I want to listen to you? I want to see her in a town hall. I want to see her giving a speech.? So, we need to observe, not object so much?"

And is Palin right about the media being elitist? King: ?I say this all the time, and many in my business disagree with me, but one of the things I love about what I do is I travel. And there are a lot of people who sit?they?re wonderful people?they?re well-intentioned, don?t get me wrong, but they sit in New York or Washington?and they don?t come to South Carolina or North Carolina or Ohio or any other swing state out here and actually talk to human beings?or watch what it?s like to stand outside of a factory that just shut down with people.

"And so their attitudes are influenced by the fact that they live in Washington or New York and they don?t travel enough. And the criticism is that makes them elitist. I would just say sometimes there are some people who are very influential in our business who are somewhat out of touch.?

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