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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Very true Hillary, but if they were reporting the facts you would have been fired over Benghazi a year ago.
I can' think of anyone who has benefited more from the death of journalism than the Clintons. This is the height of hypocrisy when Hillary Clinton complains about the media being a circus. I suppose it's only now a concern for her given someone asked a very journalistic question about her record at State. She also didn't care much for real journalism when it came to Benghazi or White Water. The Clintons only exist because the media has become a three ring circus!!
She is 100% correct! As is Bill in regards to 2008. It was THE MOST extremely biased coverage in our history. The media bent ove rbackwards to virtually ignore or downplay anything she did to the point of parody because THEY decided they wanted Obama to win. Any the played up any and everythign he did as "historic" so they could all pat themselves on the back. They made a fool out of this woman and for what? To coddle black viewership a little, maybe convince themselves the majority of black citizens were voting for him based on anythign OTHER than skin color? HA. They made that primary boil down to one question, are you a racist or a sexist? It was sickening, because as the past 6 years have shown, not only did they backed the wrong pony, but they helped put a bigger chip on the shoulders of people to legtimize and continue to demand free undeserved handouts and education opportunities at the expense of more deserving people, in name of "history" and "Civil Rights"
Neither a supporter or anti-Clinton,(I can list things she's done I like, and things she'd done I can't stand) but the media treatment of Hillary does make me sympathize with her.
Lizzie
Everything for ratings, that's why CNN ran the missing airline story 24/7 to bring their ratings up.
-------------------------------------------------Oh, is that why?
We were under the impression that CNN was waiting for "permission to speak about something else, sir" from the powers that be outside of their newsroom.
That's what those of us that tuned out CNN thought.
Don't worry, Hillary. The press is already paving the way for your election by hyping up anything from a potential foe that could be construed badly. Now if they can only erase your record as Secretary of State and all memory of Benghazi.
If we keep voting in Liberals, then we'll keep losing ground around the world in everything! We'll also keep losing workers here in the US who have figured out tat if they vote Democratic, then they get a free ticket through EXISTENCE without lifting a finger.
And Hitlery doesn't matter either.
Well Emil, we know exactly what category you fall in.... Your dribble said it all. Or is it emil? Small e.
Hillary, Obama, and the rest of the BIG Government progressive Democrats want to stifle and take away free speech. State-run media is what they prefer, so they don't have to be accountable to anyone. MSNBC, CNN, NBC,CBS,ABC, NPR are already progressives news outlets. Progress towards the 10 pillars of communism???
Hillary, this is pathetic. NOW the media is not about facts??? You didn't have a bit of a problem for a full year after Benghazi while they were covering your rear. The astonishing hypocrisy of this beyond belief.
i hate to say this...it catches in my throat a little...but Hillary is right
@ Dominican mama:
"Morning Lynda!"
Morning to you as well. I suspect CNN has got what it wants out of this article. Going forward it's going to be a "MSNBC vs FOX News" debate (leaving CNN to glow in the after affects).
The biters will always bite.
Anybody with even one iota of intelligence noticed with utter disgust how the media promoted Obama in 2008 and before (a know-nothing teleprompter reader about whom nothing concrete was known) merely to give them 4+ years of novel photo ops and sound bites. I hope they're proud of the mess they've wrought!
Really? Say it isn't so. Maybe if our government had room to point the finger. It just might be that a fluoridated low wage serfdom subjugated under a intrusive police state was the intention of our Constitution and they are perfectly justified to pursue such nefarious schemes. What would be nice is if they would stop with the deceit already. Like when they talk about getting out of Afghanistan when the only reason we are there is to establish permanent military bases. They need to realize we don't all drink the tap water, and the internet will propagate dissent against the incompetent and unjust practices of them and their ilk.
Well CNN is so liberally biased that a liberal blogger can't even get one comment posted on this story while seeing nothing but negative anti liberal comments.
Oh yeah this is definitely liberal media....😴
I am sure the pain of the families of the four men she let die in the Benghazi terrorist attack has not faded.
This story made my stomach hurt from hypocrisy overload...
Well, she should know, the Clinton's and other liberals spin the media like it's a top. Good luck finding verifiable facts. And she likes it that way.
As a reporter for 25 years, I am disgusted at what has happened to newspapers, broadcast media, too. Writers aren't objective anymore, sources aren't vetted. When the Internet made instant gratification a goal of so much news, the newspapers chose to compete instead of relying on what they did best - complete and objective coverage of an issue. Newsprint isn't that expensive.
Whether you like or loath Ms. Clinton, she's 100% spot on with her criticism of today's sorry excuse for journalism. For those that continue to attack her for her other political stances and ignore that people you disagree with may sometimes have a very valid point, then you are part of the problem.
The "MSM," which does include Fox News, is not the problem, they are the symptom. The real problem is money. News is no longer about investigating and reporting your verified finding to the public for the benefit of all. "News" has become another profit generating division of large media corporations who only care about their bottom line and that bottom line is fed by racing to the bottom with sensationalism.
I'm STILL WAITING for someone to investigate how the ROSE LAW FIRM PAPERS suddenly magically appeared in the Clinton White House.
STILL WAITING for a FULL INVESTIGATION inot VINCE FOSTER'S death.
If she wins....will she agree to put a chastity device on her husband?
It' the same thing with politician's. They rarely do any work they were sent to do. They spend all their time talking about how good they are at the job we gave them and ask for more money to lie to us when election time comes around The days of our founding fathers country ideal's are gone.
I love the tautology in the next to last paragraph. Ironic as the media is presenting a story about media incompetence:
"....and it is likely that she would win the nomination if she won."
Hillary should be happy...the media gave her a free pass to lie and will omit coverage of certain events to further the liberal agenda but yes, the media today is far more biased than ever before. They lost me when they helped Obama cover his lie on Benghazi.