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Boehlert: The Press Hits the Rewind Button

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 10:20:00 AM EST
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Eric Boehlert at Media Matters on the shameful press reaction to the release of Hillary Clinton's white house schedules:

How dreadful was the news coverage last week surrounding the official release of Hillary Clinton's public White House schedule from her eight years as first lady? So bad that I found myself in rare (unprecedented?) agreement with at least two prominent conservative bloggers who noticed the same thing I did: The Beltway press corps is, at times, a national embarrassment.

...Surveying the news coverage, conservative blogger Rick Moran posed the same question I had last week, "Do we really need to know where Hillary was when Monica Lewinsky was with her husband? Or where she was when Vince Foster committed suicide? ... And does it deserve this feeding frenzy from the media?"

More...

Good for Boehlert. After naming the most egregious violators, he concludes:

The release of Clinton's White House schedules hit the rewind button in lots of newsrooms last week as reporters jumped at the chance to revisit the good ole days..... The political press corps, in terms of standards and professionalism, is probably in worse shape today than it was 10 years ago.

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    Boehlert: The Press Hits the Rewind Button | 13 comments (13 topical)

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    Silver Lining? (5.00 / 3) (#1)
    by Chimster on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:40:56 PM EST
    Perhaps the silver lining is that this type of reporting will make potential voters think Hillary is getting a raw deal or being dragged through gutter politics. I think the blue dress business just pisses many people off and it should work in her favor.

    One Can Only Hope... (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by AmyinSC on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:52:27 PM EST
    But given their seeming glee at any opportunity, true or not, to tear her (or her husband) down,  and their seeming refusal to print anything that can be construed as positive (like, say, Jack Murtha's endorsement??), I remain concerned.

    That being said, I continue to be astounded at how well Clinton continues to do GIVEN the constant media assault on her.  I think that speaks volumes for her.

    Parent

    In the past (none / 0) (#9)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 02:02:06 PM EST
    -- not saying it will work now, but in the past -- the more that people trashed Bill and Hill the better their approval ratings were.

    The majority of Democrats are very loyal to the Clintons.  I suspect they have affection for the Clinton years when success was easier to attain, and they know these folks are competent (a scarce commodity these days).

    Parent

    More Than Anything Else (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by The Maven on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:45:07 PM EST
    what we're seeing here are the true colors of what passes for the "serious" political media in this country, which has long since decided that the American people are obsessed with scandals (particularly sexual ones) and couldn't really care at all about nuanced discussions or analyses of the issues.

    I think I've seen more than a few surveys from the Pew Research Center that consistently show that this view simply isn't true, but of course it's much easier on the traditional media to do stories like these (and to focus principally on the horserace aspect of campaigns) than to attempt to truly cover something in depth.  In a sad corollary, it's become far simpler for those "reporters" and "editors" who push these stories to advance in their fields than it is for those who toil on less sensationalist stories (in the absence of a Pulitzer or Peabody, that is).  And in taking this path to advancement, the serious stories end up getting even shorter shrift.

    I could not agree more (5.00 / 2) (#3)
    by independent voter on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:47:38 PM EST
    When I saw some of those articles I really couldn't believe they would publish them. How disgusting that they had to "find" something to print. Thankfully, I do think most people feel the same way, because they don't seem to have gotten too much notice.

    If they think their petty and prurient (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by Anne on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 02:05:18 PM EST
    snickering will humiliate Hillary Clinton, they really do not know her at all.

    To listen to them, you would think there was nary an unfaithful husband or wife, or multiply-married and divorced person among the vaunted media elite...

    Lately, they will latch onto anything that gives them an opportunity to flog the Clintons and boost Obama, to the point where I wonder sometimes if one of the reasons I want her to win is so I can have the joy of watching the over-paid and over-ego'd media have a total meltdown on national television when she does.  I can almost see Tim Russert ripping his precious whiteboard in half, and Brian Williams messing up his beautifully blow-dried hair...and Olbermann?  That might be the most enjoyable collapse of all.

    Hillary is running against (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by OxyCon on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 02:08:12 PM EST
    a myth in Obama and 98% of the "mainstream media" that hates her guts, AND she's still right in the thick of the election.
    Like I said from the beginning, she's vetted, America knows her and they know what to expect from her as President.
    With Obama, he put himself up on such a high pedestal that the only place for him to go is down, and I don't think he's seen the bottom yet.
    Rasmussen has him in a virtual tie with Hillary in favorable/unfavorable ratings. That didn't take too long for Obama to drop that far. A couple more revelations about Obama's unsavory associations and he will be toxic.
    The more Americans get to know Obama, the less they like him.

    I noticed a Cal Woodward from the Associated (none / 0) (#4)
    by hairspray on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:48:19 PM EST
    Press started his story off immediately with the "where was Hillary during the Monica affair." Pathetic. Except that it is dangerous for our country.

    I think all the TV channels (none / 0) (#5)
    by gyrfalcon on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:49:53 PM EST
    have a special button now in the control room they can hit that automatically plays the tape of Bill and Monica at the rope line.

    Get ready for more (none / 0) (#7)
    by Paladin on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:58:19 PM EST
    when they release their tax returns.

    The Fourth Estate (none / 0) (#8)
    by BarnBabe on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:59:36 PM EST
    They really are in control. We are swimming against the tide in that regard. They are looking for anything, but in bringing back that memory maybe we should remind them of who kept telling us that GW would be more fun to have a beer with over Kerry as they pushed for GW. They have not always chosen wisely.

    They have become a grocery store media rag going for the gotca. This time they are going for the 10 year old tingly news as if that will make people change their minds. I believe we have all gotten past that.  

    There is a simple (none / 0) (#12)
    by kenoshaMarge on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 02:13:32 PM EST
    answer to the disgusting behavior of the media pundits. Turn off the television. Or if you can't do that, put in a movie, watch the History channel and learn something, go house hunting on H&G, watch the Sci-Fi channel but DO NOT tune in the disgusting news programs unless and until they clean up their act.

    All the angst, oh my gosh I just saw the most horrible thing on CNN/FOX/MSNBC/ABC/CBS/NBC, means that YOU were watching. And the ratings don't care if you like what you see as long as you keep watching. Every time you email and tell them how horrible they are, you are telling them that you are still watching.

    actually, those aren't the most (none / 0) (#13)
    by cpinva on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 02:33:20 PM EST
    egregious stories, in my opinion. those would be the ones that take a one line schedule note, such as "give end of meeting comments to NAFTA working group", and extrapolate that into "SCHEDULE SHOWS CLINTON SUPPORTED NAFTA!". obviously, it shows no such thing, or anything at all.

    i understand this kind of nonsense on the washington times or hannity, but it was on rawstory and other sites as well.

    this is the kind of revisionist "journalism" that you should be howling at the moon against, the other stuff is just white noise by comparison.

    marge, sometimes (rarely i grant you), the "news" channels do feature items on things other than the democratic primary. i know, hard to believe, but it's true! lol

    Boehlert: The Press Hits the Rewind Button | 13 comments (13 topical)

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