Alaska's biggest newspaper, The Anchorage Daily News reported today that Sarah Palin "abused power" in their online article entitled, "Investigator: Palin Abused Power." The article, from Palin's home state, details her and her husband's use of the Governor's office to "advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired." The article details with greater specificity Palin's misdeeds, which include the firing of her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, for, among other reasons, refusal to fire Wooten and the state attorney general's office failing "to substantially comply" with a request to Palin for e-mails about the case.
The Anchorage Daily article is lengthy and broken down into several sections including, "Trouble Goes Back For Years," which details a 2006 divorce between Wooten and Palin's sister, "Reactions are Divided," which describes the conflicting attitudes toward the scandal ("Who is going to blame Todd Palin for protecting his family?" said Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole. "Not me.") and "Feedback for Complainants," which spells out the investigator report's advice to the complainants (presumably Palin) and future complainants to trust that the complaints are heeded and taken seriously and to avoid using state power (as Palin has.)
Notably, the article attempts to account for both sides of the conflict: quoting Palin's attorney, who referred to the investigation as a partisan attempt to "smear the governor by innuendo."
The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, which serves Palin's city of Wasilla, Alaska features a blog, called Wasila to the White House, on their website. The blog is written by Mat-Su Valley Staff writers and focus on Palin's ascendancy from Mayor of Wasila to Republican Vice Presidential Candidate. The blog's entry for Friday, October 10th, is titled "Troopergate report was in high demand." The brief article simply describes the press' excitement with the Investigation findings. It also details another story, written in the first person, which seems to criticize Sarah Palin for her secrecy with regard to sending emails about state business through a private Yahoo account.
I think this Wasilla-based blog indicates that blogs can be as equally unbiased as a mainstream news source. Still, the Frontiersman blog uses more informal expressions such as "The so-called Palin Truth Squad." This does not make it more subjective, but I think that a lack of formality runs a higher risk of losing credibility.
Sources:
http://www.adn.com/troopergate/story/552799.html
http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2008/10/11/blogs/palin/doc48efdfb649096953197588.txt
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