Palin’s Threatening Press Release Likely Written in Advance

1,300 Word Defense, Complete with References

Fewer than 24 hours after the announcement that Sarah Palin will resign her position as Governor of Alaska, a press release issued by Palin’s lawyer threatened legal action against members of the media who “propagate defamatory material” about the former vice-presidential candidate.  Unfortunately, the release is highly suspect itself.

First, the references in the release to alleged wrongdoing by media members do not reflect the assertions made in the document.  Second, a 1,300-word press release takes a lot of time to write.  This release also had references, although poor ones, and it takes time to find, review and gain approval for those annotations.

At the risk of being sued for exercising my freedom of speech right guaranteed by the United States Constitution, it is my professional opinion as a writer with more than 25 years experience that this release was prepared well in advance of Palin’s resignation announcement.  In fact, it appears as though the release had more preparation time dedicated to it than the resignation speech so many have characterized as being nearly incoherent. 

Let’s do the math:

• Allow 7 hours to review the media reaction to the bombshell announcement.  This is a minimal timeframe because of the diverse publishing windows for the variety of media. 
• Assume the decision to issue a release was made immediately following a full review of the media reaction.  This would be an unusually short time for a decision of such importance.  Normally, there would be at least an hour of discussion, more likely two, regarding strategy, direction, content and tone. 
• Allow at least 5.2 hours for writing and full editing of 1,300 words.  This would be a lightning-fast process.  An average press release of this length would take at least 7 hours to write and the editing process can take anywhere from 2 - 4 hours.  Even the latter estimate is very fast. 
• The research for the websites in the release would take a minimum of 2 hours to find and review for appropriateness.  However, the review process didn’t seem to take place in this instance. 
• There would have to be a legal review of the document prior to release.  Although Palin’s legal counsel Thomas Van Flein claims credit for the release, it was unlikely written by him in my opinion.  I say this as a writer who has worked with lawyers and covered them in the federal court system for some 20 years.  Lawyers do not write emotionally, and the document exhibited AP style.  I have never met a lawyer who knew or wrote in AP style.  Allow at least 3 hours for legal review and the resulting corrections - again a very short time period due to the references in the document quoting Alaskan law. 
• Palin herself would have to review the document prior to release.  Assuming she only had the most modest revisions (a writer’s fantasy I’m willing to indulge just this once), the review and resulting corrections and additions would likely take at least 2 hours. 
• Allow 7 hours for sleep.  It would be incredible to believe this release was of such high priority that a team stayed awake all night to release it the next day.

Even with all the allowances in the world for time, and the implicit assumption that Palin’s team is incredibly responsive and professional despite the poor quality of the resignation speech itself and the odd references in the release, the elapsed time for this press release would be at least 26.2 hours.

Yet it was released in less than 24 hours.

In my opinion, this was a planned release that took a minimum of 30 hours to complete the entire process - not including sleep.  If it were a normal 350 - 500 word release, it could have possibly been completed within the allotted time, but this release is about three times longer and has several references that had to be found, read and approved by all members in the process from Palin herself to the lawyer.  It just doesn’t happen that fast.

Later this week I’ll discuss why it was such a bad move all the way around from a public relations perspective.