As Alaska Releases Palin Emails, Cable News Channels Choose What to Cover

By Alex Weprin 

This afternoon the state of Alaska released thousands of pages of emails sent by former Governor Sarah Palin. The release of the documents was requested by a number of news organizations, including CNN and the AP, back in 2008.

All three of the cable networks have covered the release of documents today, though with decidedly different takes.

CNN and MSNBC both have correspondents in Juneau, Alaska reporting on what they are finding in the documents. Michael Isikoff is reporting for MSNBC and Drew Griffin for CNN.

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Fox News is in the unusual position of having Palin on its payroll. It has not featured any correspondents from Alaska as of yet (Update: Te network says it has Anita Vogel in Juneau to report on the emails), and its discussions of the emails have focused on the crowd-sourcing effort being undertaken by the Washington Post, New York Times and others.

That angle was first used on “Fox & Friends” this morning, and continued during FNC’s mid-day coverage. Video of the “F&F” segment is below.

Update: FNC’s Greta Van Susteren weighs in on the media’s handling of the emails on her GretaWire blog.

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