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Complete article posted with the permission of the author - DonJoe Conason
Why The Media Want Hillary Clinton To Shut Up
September 12, 2017 6:55 am
There is something strange about the reproachful media response to What Happened, Hillary Clintons new book on the 2016 campaign.
Now everyone knows that the Washington press corps dislikes and distrusts the former Democratic nominee. After all, several of its most eminent members have admitted their herds prejudice against her. But the nearly unanimous demand for her to be silent often presented in the form of blind quotes from her alleged friends cuts against normal journalistic curiosity, let alone the usual lust for fresh gossip.
And it doesnt matter how many times she accepts responsibility for her unexpected defeat by Donald Trump in the Electoral College. Pundits and reporters insist she hasnt acknowledged her guilt sufficiently, with the requisite sincerity. So the best choice, according to the press, would have been for her to say and write nothing.
Nobody in the media is eager to hear Clintons perspective on that catastrophic election cycle especially not the part about them and their performance. They would rather not reflect on why her damned emails were so ridiculously overemphasized. Or why Trump enjoyed constant and groveling promotion as a television spectacle. Or why journalists produced so many misleading investigations of the Clinton Foundation, yet so very few examinations of Trumps longstanding connections to organized crime. Or why vital policy differences between the two candidates received a tiny fraction of media attention.eee
The press may not top the list of those who earned blame for the elections outcome, notably including former FBI director James Comey, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, various unnamed Russian malefactors, and Clinton herself. But she has legitimate grievances over how she and her opponent were treated by the American media, particularly several of its most illustrious outlets.
The statistical and analytical brief for her case is already publicly available, in a path-breaking report released last month by a team of scholars from Harvard and MIT.
Titled Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 US Presidential Campaign, their study used an enormous collection of data from online sources to map the impact of a wide variety of news sources. What they found was a sharp asymmetry between left and right outlets that benefited Trump and damaged Clinton. And while most mainstream coverage treated both candidates negatively, it largely followed Trumps agenda. That meant reporting about Clinton focused on scandals involving the Clinton Foundation and emails, while reporting about Trump focused on his issues, such as immigration.
The report delivers a fascinating, highly detailed and fairly discouraging portrait of the media constellation and its role in our democracy. But its election findings went deeper, revealing how the extremely partisan and inaccurate right-wing outlets, led by Steve Bannons Breitbart News, set the agenda for the more objective mainstream media.
Featuring a case study of the Clinton Foundation, the report shows how a slanted front-page article in the New York Times influenced widespread coverage that continued to unfairly damage Clinton up until Election Day 2016. In late April 2015, the Times published an extensive piece based on Clinton Cash, a book financed by Bannons dark money donors, headlined Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal.
As the reports authors note acidly, Buried in the tenth paragraph of the story was this admission: Whether the donations played any role in the approval of the uranium deal is unknown. But the episode underscores the special ethical challenges presented by the Clinton Foundation, headed by a former president who relied heavily on foreign cash to accumulate $250 million in assets even as his wife helped steer American foreign policy as secretary of state, presiding over decisions with the potential to benefit the foundations donors. Needless to say, it was the clear insinuation of corruption in the headline, not the buried admission that no evidence of corruption was in fact uncovered, that made the April 2015 story one of the Times most tweeted stories during the summer [of 2016].
The report goes on to dismantle equally spurious exposes in leading outlets such as the Associated Press and the Washington Post, which insinuated corruption when the actual evidence proved there was none. And there are plenty of other examples. The effect was to disinform readers and voters, precisely the opposite of what journalists supposedly aspire to do.
Naturally, mainstream media outlets have ignored the prestigious, heavily documented Harvard study. They can suppress this kind of criticism far more easily than Donald Trump can silence any negative voices.
But if Hillary Clinton starts talking about this disgrace, then audiences and readers might start listening. And thats why the media has gently eeeeesuggested that she should just shut up and go away. Nevertheless, she persists.
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http://www.nationalmemo.com/media-clinton-shut-up/
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)Mr. Conason is once again writing the truth.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)And, for some weird reason, the media continue to report on whatever falls out of Newt Gingrich's mouth as if he has any credibility. Gingrich being just one example among dozens on the conservative side.
dalton99a
(81,455 posts)emulatorloo
(44,117 posts)debunked pretty quickly, yet NYT did not care.
It was a transparent Rove style maneuver: attack (lie about) your opponent's strengths.
Attack Kerry's heroism with swiftboaters for "Truth." Attack a effective charitable organization with "Truth" as well.
deurbano
(2,894 posts)Right as Clinton was announcing her candidacy. Not only did that serve to shamefully reinforce the right wing "corruption" narrative, but it legitimized Breitbart (of all repugnant things) by promoting a "book" by one its editors that was nothing more than an obvious and sleazy hit job on Clinton. I mean, Breitbart used to be considered fringe even to most Republicans, and now look how far we have come (sunk!) in an astonishingly short period of time. The "liberal" media enabled that.
Rove and his ilk are masters at attacking their opponents' strengths. I couldn't believe how quickly Gore went from being considered the ultimate "Boy Scout" to being the biggest pathological liar of all time. And Clinton's superhuman tenacity and strength (Benghazi hearings lasting hours... etc.) quickly morphed into "frail old lady" on the verge of death, while the conventional wisdom regarding her outsized intellect was undermined by claims of serious brain injury.
emulatorloo
(44,117 posts)Madam45for2923
(7,178 posts)NOPE!
CousinIT
(9,240 posts)chelsea0011
(10,115 posts)nolabels
(13,133 posts)Wallowing in a mud pit will eventually get you dirty no matter what your intentions
If outside looking in, then probably, you're in the wrong place, to begin with.