News

She Has Her Own TV Channel Now

by Lauren Barbato

No stranger to the close-up, Sarah Palin has tried her hand at several onscreen ventures over the years, including Fox News contributor, news anchor, and reality TV star. But the woman who recently turned down a guest role on HBO's True Blood isn't taking a break from the lights and cameras just yet. Former vice presidential candidate Palin just launched the subscription-only Sarah Palin Channel as a response to the biased views and content she believes currently plague the media.

The online channel is hosted on its eponymous website, and comes with not only news videos, but also "quotes of the day" and "images of the day," complete with viral memes from our Founding Fathers. "Hello, and welcome to a new project!" Palin exclaimed in the introductory video. "This is a news channel that really is a lot more than news."

She continued:

This is a community where we'll be able to share ideas and discuss the issues of the day. And we're gonna find solutions. Are you tired of the media filters? I am. I always have been. So we're gonna do something about it. I want to talk directly to you on our channel on my terms, and no need to please the powers that be. ... Together, we'll go beyond the soundbytes and cut through the media's politically correct filter.

A post on Palin's official Facebook page also rallied her supporters by claiming this new online channel can be their way of going "rogue," one of her favorite terms.

Just a few hours before that post, she published her "Challenge to The Washington Post," asking the newspaper to "engage in the same aggressive investigative journalism you courageously employed 42 years ago covering President Nixon." Basically, she thinks they're too scared to disrupt any of their friends in Washington.

Today, you’ve fallen like a lead balloon. Whereas you once doggedly covered the 18.5 minute gap in Nixon’s White House communications, you’ve virtually ignored the Obama Administration’s 1.2 million minutes of deleted communications by just one of the agencies under Obama’s executive branch. I’m speaking of the Lois Lerner IRS harassment-of-conservatives scandal wherein Lerner “lost” pertinent email communications.

Palin promises that her media channel will "talk about the issues that the mainstream media won't talk about." Judging from the content on the channel's homepage, that includes Obama, Obama and some more Obama, who she seems to believe has unwavering support from the Liberal Media. Some of Monday's top headlines include "Obama's Addiction: OPM (Other People's Money)," "The Forgotten Man In Obama's America" and "The Case for Obama's Impeachment."

But Palin's new site won't be all Obama-bashing. The former Alaska governor also says that she'll show fun scenes from the Palin household. I secretly hope this means more of husband Todd's snowmobiling adventures, which were arguably the best part of Sarah Palin's Alaska.

What are the next #PalinTVShows she has up her blazer sleeves? We can think of a few. Maybe a cooking travelogue called Caribou Parts Unknown? Palin Dynasty, a gun-toting family miniseries. A political news-hour Six Years Ago Tonight: Remember When I Ran For Vice President? Or True American Blood, to get back at her HBO nemesis (no gay rights/HIV allegories here).

The website also features a link to daughter Bristol's blog on Patheos, where she's currently engaged in a bookclub reading of The Giver, in case anyone's been wondering what she's been up to post-Dancing With The Stars. Hm, maybe an I Wanna Marry Bristol is in the works, too.

The basic membership is $9.95 per month — just a little bit more than the standard Netflix subscription. Subscribers who sign up by Aug. 1 can receive an annual plan of $99.95.

As previously mentioned, this is hardly Palin's first foray into television, and in some ways, it seems like a smooth move for the former politician/current Tea Party soundboard. Like it or not, Palin is a personable figure who oozes her own sort of folksy, "we can do it!" charm. As far as Republican women go, Palin is arguably one of the most appealing to the masses — far more so than, say, Rep. Michele Bachmann.

But it's hard to pinpoint Palin's motivation behind the Sarah Palin Channel, especially since she's made it clear in the past that she's less interested in assuming political office. Is she setting herself up to become the next Ann Coulter — bigger than Ann Coulter, even? Or is this just a way to capitalize on the swelling Tea Party movement and help spread their influence, all the way to the White House? After all, Palin's monetary commitment to the right-wing movement has never been a secret; her SarahPAC supports ultra-right-wing candidates including Joe Carr in Tennessee and Chris McDaniel in Mississippi.

Or is this her way to counter Hillary Clinton and Hard Choices? Considering that the Sarah Palin Channel is made up of Palin's stances on various domestic and international issues, and not actual journalism, makes the website seem more like a campaign bid than a news source. Take this video on Russia President Vladimir Putin and renewable energy sources.

Whatever her reasoning may be, Sarah Palin is back — with no media filters except her own.

Images: Sarah Palin Channel (2)