Posted by Richard Adams
It's journalism at its most post-modern: a writer for the Washington Post, concerned at the number of articles he has written about Sarah Palin, writes another article explaining how he's going to have a month-long moratorium from writing articles about Sarah Palin.
Dana Milbank, a politics columnist for the Washington Post, announced on Friday that he was
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/20/AR2011012004349.html">declaring February to be a Sarah Palin-free zone. After admitting "I can no longer hide the truth. I have a Sarah Palin problem," Milbank writes:
"
I hereby pledge that, beginning on Feb 1, 2011, I will not mention Sarah Palin - in print, online or on television - for one month. Furthermore, I call on others in the news media to join me in this pledge of a Palin-free February. With enough support, I believe we may even be able to extend the moratorium beyond one month, but we are up against a powerful compulsion, and we must take this struggle day by day."
Pointing out that the Huffington Post managed to mention Palin in 19 separate articles in a single day last week, Milbank even set up an
http://twitter.com/home?status=I%27m%20making%20February%20a%20Palin-free%20month.%20Will%20you%20join%20me?%20http://wapo.st/eLSl3w">automated Twitter generator for those joining his self-censorship crusade.
Bravely disregarding the dangers of self-parody,
http://parkerspitzer.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/21/columnist-declares-february-palin-free/">CNN leaped into the fray: "Has the media grown tired of the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee? We asked Ari Melber, a correspondent for The Nation, and Steve Kornacki of Salon.com."
Full piece:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2011/jan/22/sarah-palin-washington-post-moratorium