Hillary Clinton: Today's media is more entertainment, less facts
Storrs, Connecticut (CNN) – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lamented the state of journalism on Wednesday, telling an audience at the University of Connecticut that journalism is now driven more by entertainment than fact based reporting.
Clinton, who has been the focus of national media attention since the early 1990s, told the 2,300-person audience that "journalism has changed quite a bit in a way that is not good for the country and not good for journalism."
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"A lot of serious news reporting has become more entertainment driven and more opinion-driven as opposed to factual," she said. "People book onto the shows, political figures, commentators who will be controversial who will be provocative because it’s a good show. You might not learn anything but you might be entertained and I think that’s just become an unfortunate pattern that I wish could be broken."
Clinton's comments came as part of the question and answer portion to Wednesday’s event. University of Connecticut President Susan Herbst asked Clinton about how journalism has changed and whether journalists could help break gridlock that has halted work in Washington.
The former secretary of state went on to say that she feels there is a space for "explanatory journalism because there’s a lot going on in the world that needs explanation."
The former first lady also had a tip for journalists: Do your homework.
"It’s important for journalists to realize that they have to do their homework too and they really should be well-prepared when they interview people, when they talk about issues," she said. "I think that it’s with professional tweaking and creativity we could address some of the issues we know are plaguing journalism today."
Clinton has long been the focus of journalists' attention, which at times has caused an acrimonious view of media.
According to the diary of Diane Blair, a longtime Clinton confidant whose personal documents gained media attention earlier this year, Clinton regularly expressed frustration and a deep distrust of the media.
In January 1995, Blair wrote that Clinton expressed “her total exasperation with all this obsession and attention, and how hard she’s finding to conceal her contempt for it all.” On Thanksgiving Day 1996, Blair wrote that Clinton thought the press was “complete hypocrites.”
“Say they want the truth, want power to be transparent, but in fact they prefer the backstage manipulation of B. Bush, N. Reagan, B. Truman, R. Carter,” Blair wrote, listing several former first ladies. “On her death bed, wants to be able to say she was true to herself and is not going to do phoney makeovers to please others.”
When her husband, Bill Clinton, was president, many in the White House worried of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" that aimed to take down the Clinton White House. Some of that concern stemmed from the rise of right wing media and blogs.
Clinton's 2008 campaign also suffered from a sometimes tense relationship with the media. In 2008, former President Clinton railed against what he called "the most biased coverage in history," and both Clintons complained of what they believed to be pervasive sexism dominating the campaign narrative.
In response to her remarks, Tim Miller, executive director of American Rising PAC, a conservative research and media super PAC, said Clinton's problem with the media stemmed from "a lack of interest in transparency, not the media. She's never going to like anyone that tries to hold her accountable."
While in Storrs, Clinton also talked about National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, the future of the Ukraine-Russia relationship and the importance of youth participation.
Because the remarks came at University of Connecticut, a school whose basketball program won both Division I national championship in 2014, the former secretary of state also brandished some of her basketball bona fides, telling the audience that she was "a big fan" of Shabazz Napier, the men's senior guard.
"You just busted every bracket," Clinton said.
Clinton, who has used the last few months to travel the country and deliver paid speeches, has acknowledged that she is thinking about a presidential run in 2016. All polls have her as the Democratic frontrunner and it is likely that she would win the nomination if she won.
Former Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, who attended Wednesday's event, said the former first lady should think about running, while Connecticut's Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he would support Clinton "when and if she does."
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I don't usually agree with much of what Secretary Clinton says, but in this case I fully agree. The journalists aren't doing anything they've done for years, but it's much more blatant and in our faces. I won't have Fox news on as they are hysterical; provocative and sensational. The broadcast channels don't do real news. We're all better off to not pay much attention to the 'media'.
Seriously – Clinton, the woman that wanted the media to investigate the "vast right wing conspiracy against her husband" is lamenting the decline in journalism.
Man I differ from her views, on a lot of things, but she's got this one right, we don't get real news from around the world anymore, just lot's of fluff and puff.
Wherever you are, you're with the BBC.
Hmmmm...the exact same thing should be said about politics!
So, when you are elected try this: Don't ever hold any news conferences or release any press releases. Forbid all your staff from talking to the media. That might actually give them the incentive they need to do their jobs instead of just rewriting press releases :-).
HLLARYARIOUS! Does not every politician do the same thing as a journalist? Send out entertaining attack ads that have no fact....
Hillary lied to cover up Bill's numerous rapes. Nothing she says has value.
She is 100% right and CNN is one of the worst offenders. The web page is click bate and the TV channel is Yellow press o
Per the article that is true – it seemed to begin going downhill when cable became popular and 24-hour news stations came into existence. The Challenger accident of 1986 was probably the first story that the media became fixated on, showing the explosion repeatedly in the following days. During my own time around weather media folks it went from being 75% weather and 25% entertainment in the mid-1980s to the opposite today, though the problem seems to come more from the 24-hour cable channels that seem to have too much air time to fill, than the Big 3 networks that still use the old 30-minute newscast to read the days news. Still, the decline is there and is more a reflection of society itself – things are not going well..
Mrs. Clinton is 100% correct. With the likes of Rush Limpbaugh and Fox News; these outlets dumb down the nation and its very sad. We need more folks like Helen Thomas, Ed Bradley and Walter Cronkite. People interested in telling the whole truth versus baiting the extreme in the country.
She can only hope it stays this way so that she can be elected president on her celebrity status. If real journalist report all of the garbage in her life she'd be laughed off the stage.
"All polls have her as the Democratic frontrunner and it is like that she would win the nomination if she won."
DERP!
What is Hillary whining about , everything that journalist put out is liberal agenda that favors the Clintons.
And, like a good little "journalist," the author of this article apparently decided the best way to cover this story was to blast Clinton and even to try to discredit her, because, if there's one thing you don't do to journalism, it's criticize it, no matter how much it deserves to be criticized. And, make no mistake, Clinton is absolutely right in her criticism of the state of journalism, as evidenced even by this piece reporting on her taking the industry to task.
She's just figuring that out. The problem is people think opinion is news It doesn't matter if its opinion from the left or the right, its not news. Its there to drive ratings. Say what people wanna hear and they will watch. NBC and FOX are the worst. Take away all the opinion shows and you have passable news reporting
While I agree with her assessment, the same could be said of politics.
Can we define irony? You want journalists to get more facts, I wonder what would happen if they had all the facts about Benghazi....
No duh!!!!!! But it sure has been good for the dems and their agenda! I mean really. 700 mill on advertising for omama care.
Yep, when they report bad stuff about you, all of a sudden it is not facts but entertainment.
Yeah – journalism has faded as in not truly investigating anything non-flattering of Mrs. Clinton. The press including CNN has treated her with kid gloves for years and will surely anoint her as the next POTUS.
Very very accurate statement. I've been calling most news sources News Entertainment for many years now. It's a product of having to keep "news" interesting 24hours7days a week...
Let's see the media was able to point out the fact that she did not get shot at by snipers in Bosnia and told a lie just for the sake of telling a lie. The media was also able to point out the fact that a video was not the cause of the Benghazi uprising. Another Clinton lie. Oh and the media also pointed out the fact that you could not keep your doctor or your insurance if you liked them. Ahh, what difference does it make at this point anyway!
She wants serious journalism, huh? Following her Senate Bengazi testimony journalists systematically failed to follow up and get to the bottom of this tragedy. We still don't know who authorized a stand down order. We still don't know who changed the talking points to blame the video. But to Mrs Clinton "what difference does it make?"
Well CNN...start digging and let's give Mrs Clinton some serious journalism. Or maybe you're just in the tank with the rest of the literal media.
The pot calling the kettle black...