Here’s an interesting thought experiment for you: would you rather have no media coverage whatsoever of Secretary Clinton’s campaign or the biased, sexist and frankly misogynist coverage that passes for much of today’s MSM? I think most of us would probably choose the former for, flawed as the MSM coverage is, some information (even if tainted) is better than no information when it comes to understanding the world and the candidates who want to lead the country. I do think it is time for all of us to acknowledge a salient fact, though: Secretary Clinton will win the election in spite of the media and not because of it. While I would never say that she should eliminate all press contacts, I fully understand and support her strategy of remaining a bit difficult to access. of holding the media at arms’ length. I would almost say that, in this time of talk of ‘pivots,’ Secretary Clinton might consider running against the media. But doing so could trigger still more sexist double standards, so it’s a tricky question.
Dan Kennedy on Monday published a very interesting analysis of why the press and media are going so hard on Clinton and so easy on Trump. I was struck by Kennedy’s third point:
3. A sense that it’s over. This is related to Reason No. 2. Although the race has been tightening a bit as the Khan outrage fades into our rearview mirror, Clinton still holds a substantial lead. As of Monday, the New York Times’s statistical model showed her with an 86 percent chance of winning, and FiveThirtyEight had her at 72 percent. Given that the electorate is highly polarized, there is very little chance that Trump can win.
As a result, the media may already be moving on, attempting to hold the likely next president to account while paying less attention to the shortcomings of the loser.
This is fascinating stuff. If Kennedy is correct, the media has decided that, its attempts at fashioning a horse-race notwithstanding, the race is already over and so it is treating Clinton as the presumptive President-Elect. In this frame, its light touch on Trump is proof the press and media regard him as a loser already and thus unworthy of much serious effort.
As for her pivoting now to run against the media, Secretary Clinton risks being seen as too weak to stand the heat of the (political) kitchen, even while Trump’s overt attacks on the press (blacklisting various and sundry media organs, mocking reporters with whom he disagrees, and so on) are seen not as a sign of weakness or sore-loser-dom, but instead male virility or bluster.
So I do not think Secretary Clinton at this time should run against the media, tempting though such a strategy might seem. Instead, she should regard their attacks and obvious bias against her as signs that she is actually winning, as a necessary evil if you will. But I do hope her campaign staff and media folks are making note of the most egregious offenders in the media; they and their news organizations — that means you , NBC -- can surely be banished to the far reaches of the White House briefing room where their attempts to question President Clinton will be met by the silence and stony indifference they so richly deserve.