Sarah Palin Claims Media Bias On Associated Press Romney Photo

Sarah Palin expressed outrage on Thursday about the Associated Press’s unflattering photo of Mitt Romney on Monday, calling it media bias.

Palin appeared on Fox News on Thursday and was asked by host Megyn Kelle if the photo was media bias, or if it was a “forgivable mistake,” reports The Huffington Post. The former vice presidential hopeful responded:

“Hell yeah it’s media bias, and it’s also some sexism, when you consider what the response to Mitt Romney’s photo, which is degrading. … And Associated Press, they’re jerks for having run that, even with the caption — I mean, absolute jerks and biased to have tried to taint some people’s view of Mitt Romney by running this photo. It’s embarrassing.”

The photo in question shows GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney kneeling in front of a comically surprised student at a Virginia school.

It attracted widespread attention by the media almost immediately after it hit the wires. When responding to conservatives who felt that the Associated Press showed poor judgement by publishing the photo, the news agency changed the caption on Tuesday, in order to explain in detail what the photo depicted.

The AP’s executive director Kathleen Carroll also issued an apology on Wednesday, part of which read:

“The original caption on the photo of Gov. Romney taken Monday at a Virginia school was literally correct — it said the governor was posing for photos with schoolchildren. But it was too generic and missed the boat by not explaining exactly what was happening. The student with the surprised expression had just realized that the governor was going to crouch down in front of her for the group photo. We amended the caption on Tuesday with that explanation, but by then many people had seen the photo and were confused by or angry about it. Those generic captions help us process a large number of photos on a busy campaign day, but some photos demand more explanation and we fell short of our own standards by not providing it in this case.”

Fox News notes that Sarah Palin likened the AP Romney photo to a photo the news agency Reuters ran of her four years ago, which appeared to show young men looking up her her skirt. The photo caption for Palin read, “A supporter listens to Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin during a rally in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, October 8, 2008. REUTERS/Carlos Barria.”

Do you think the Associated Press’s controversial Romney photo (seen here) shows a bias in the media?