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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Thank you, Hillary! Journalism has not been about facts for the longest time. The media is so competitive these days to the point of looking so stupid just to be the first ones to break a particular story. In the end it doesn't matter since a reputation is built on getting the news to you quicker and the dumber the audience the better.
Hillary said in october 2007 that Fox News had certainly been fair and balanced to her in comparison to the other networks going gah gah over Obama.
Hillary is a hypocrit, a liar, a thief and a murderer. So why bother paying attention to her.
If journalism were still alive, 70% of our politicians would not have been re-elected. Neither Bush nor Obama would have been re-elected. We would not have invaded Iraq. Obamacare would not have passed. The multitude of scandals from the money funneled to contractors in Iraq by Cheney to the money funneled to Obama supporters at Solyndra would have put a bunch of folks in prison and led to a cleaner government. We would know what happened in Benghazi, Fast and Furious, IRS, etc. We also would know a lot more about who did what during the 2008 crash.
Unfortunately most journalism today is just repeating what some politician says and then getting a quote from the other side. We are bombarded with lies from both sides and the media just repeats them to us.
The biggest danger to our democracy is a lazy and biases press. Its on both sides.
Hillary,shut up and start acting like a grandmother.
She's correct on this of course.
Most of us confirmed the media's role in entertaining us by their avid attempt to portray most of the GOPeeing Teatards 2012 presidential candidates as anything but the clowns that they turned out to be.
It's true, Hillary. But that's what happens when elected and appointed leaders, such as yourself, repeatedly lie and stonewall all inquiries into what is actually going on.
Hi RudyNYC,
Her 2008 campaign was never to be taken seriously anyway. She wasn't supposed to win.
You can say that again HILLARY. They should be reporting more reporting on the REAL TRUTH about yours and Bill's private business dealings with overseas and stateside companies. RUSS
I agree wither her...the 24 hour news cycle has destroyed journalism in America, and transformed most low IQ american's into sheep following one team blindly.
Now excuse me while I move to Georgia, I need to be able to carry by Gun everywhere I go!!!
Hey, it's what you folks wanted. Hard news journalists were more than happy to continue being professional journalists, but people stopped consuming the news that way. If you want hard news, you have to invest in it as well.
Not only has the news media, mostly TV news, replaced hard news with entertainment style features, it has become high pressure profit centers for their respective multinational owners. To achieve better ratings a loyal core viewership needs to be attracted by giving them what they want presented as dramatically as possible. For that purpose the on camera news team has evolved into an integral part of the news cast, similar the impact a reality show ensemble host team has on drawing a certain loyal audience. That is a significant change from the days of Peter Jennings or Walter Cronkite, when newscasters simply had to be competent and win over the trust of their audience. The worst part is, news stories are chosen based on their potential to generate ratings creating a process where some newsworthy items are ignored or quickly discarded by the producers.
SHE IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO RIGHT.
Name one thing that Hillary has accomplished at Sec of State...... silence
Today's media is bias as to what and whom the report. Democratic ownership, hires democratic leaning reporter and speak only well of democrats, but then the same applies to Republican media leaning owners. It ha been decades since GOOD HONEST NON-BIAS media with the same qualities in reporting. That's just the honest facts!!!!!
Another thing Hillary always remember your comment on Benghazi. Russ
TRANSLATION: I cannot get the media to like me.
Totally agree with her. I know they're going to take my life time NRA membership away from me for this.
Except when it is MSNBC and Mathews ALso "Some of that concern stemmed from the rise of right wing media and blogs."
Of course the left wingers are fine, keep them and suppress free speech, it will happen during Clinton's 8 years in office
I agree!
All the complaints about "liberal media" is total nonsense!
Media has sold its soul to greedy Republican capitalists that have been allowed to vertically and horizontally merge into giant conglomerates.
if the media told the truth Hillary and slick willie would both be run out of the country as would barryboyobdumber. the lap dog boot lickers in the press worship her. she can get away with saying things knowing they won't do a thing
Laughable. I wonder what she would have said if facts based journalism would have been on MSNBC's, CNN's, and the Network's news teams agendas during the '12 election cycle. She, personally through her own doing, would have been crucified on Benghazi, and instead she was allowed to fall on the sword for the President.
I think that a law should be passed forcing news agencies to put the word EDITORIAL prominently in logos, headlines, and a disclaimer on story written, or 1/2 hour of programming that contains opinion, either on the left or right. It would not be an infringement of the press, rather pull back the protective cloak bad media (read: all) uses to form national opinion.
Be careful what you wish for Hillary...people may come to know more truth about you than you are comfortable with.
She is no different than most other politicians, in that their only desire is to persuade voters to vote for them. They never miss an opportunity to that. Ethics and morals be damned.
The young people now have more news available at their fingertips than previous generations had in a weeks time. So I think alot of targeting is to that audience. Thus the jounalism gets watered down, since the audience pays the bills.
If the journalists would do their job I wouldn't have to dig so deep to actually find the truth.