Democrat strategist slams media for being hard on Palin

Washington, Sep 13 : A former aide to Hillary Clinton's campaign has told CBS News that the media have been much harder on Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin than the other candidates in the race, and as a result "have growing credibility problems."

In an interview posted at CBSNews.com on Friday, Mark Penn criticized the press for going through every single expense report that Governor Palin ever filed while showing no similar interest for those of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, or even John McCain.

"I think here the media is on very dangerous ground. I think that when you see them going through every single expense report that Governor Palin ever filed, if they don't do that for all four of the candidates, they're on very dangerous ground," Penn said.

"I think the media so far has been the biggest loser in this race. And they continue to have growing credibility problems," he said.

"And I think that that's a real problem growing out of this election. The media now, all of the media -- not just Fox News that was perceived as highly partisan -- but all of the media is now being viewed as partisan in one way or another. And that is an unfortunate development."

"I think that the media is doing the kinds of stories on Palin that they're not doing on the other candidates. And that's going to subject them to people concluding that they're giving her a tougher time," Penn said.

"Now, the media defense would be, 'Yeah, we looked at these other candidates who have been in public life at an earlier time.

"What happened here very clearly is that the controversy over Palin led to 37 million Americans tuning into a vice-presidential speech -- something that is unprecedented -- because they wanted to see for themselves," Penn added.

"This is an election in which the voters are going to decide for themselves. The media has lost credibility with them," he pointed.

ANI