US officials have released thousands of pages of e-mails sent by Republican politician Sarah Palin during her tenure as Alaska governor.
News organisations first requested the move in 2008, when she was chosen from relative obscurity to become the Republican vice-presidential candidate.
The documents were released on paper. News organisations have begun scrambling to process and scan them.
Palin may be considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination.
The state is releasing about 24,000 pages of e-mails from Palin’s first 21 months as governor, but authorities withheld about 2,000 pages, citing executive privilege and privacy concerns.
The treasurer of Palin’s political action committee said today that the e-mails show a “very engaged Governor Sarah Palin being the CEO of her state”.
“The e-mails detail a governor hard at work,” he said.
Reporters from several news organisations arrived in the Alaskan capital of Juneau today in order to sift through the documents, which are only being released in paper form, and disseminate them to the public.
The Washington Post said it was looking for “100 organised and diligent readers” to assist reporters in scanning through the e-mails, while the New York Times was posting the emails on its website. (BBC)
