Palin to Give Interview to ABC This Week

Gov Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), the Republican vice presidential nominee, has agreed to her first interview since last month, with ABC News anchor Charles Gibson later this week. Palin's relations with the news media have gotten off to a rocky start. McCain campaign officials have complained about what they regard as the intrusively personal nature of some reporters' inquiries, and Palin mocked "all those reporters and commentators" Wednesday in her speech to the Republican National Convention. Since being named McCain's running mate, Palin has given only one interview, to People magazine, on the day she was introduced. She was the only member of the major parties' presidential tickets not to appear on a network talk show yesterday. Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, said on "Fox News Sunday" that she would not put herself before a "cycle of piranhas called the news media" until reporters started to treat her "with some level of respect and deference." That drew mild criticism from Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, a veteran of the talk-show circuit. "Eventually, she's going to have to answer questions and not be sequestered," the senator said on NBC's "Meet the Press." The timing of Palin's interview will coincide with the deployment of her older son, Track, with his Army unit to Iraq. The unit will depart Fort Wainwright, Alaska, on Thursday, the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.