Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:42 pm
In response to a question about whether he believed that the Russian hacks cost Hillary Clinton the election, President Obama told reporters that he thought Clinton was treated unfairly and that the coverage was troubling.
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Obama says he doesn't think Hillary Clinton was treated fairly during the election pic.twitter.com/Z5Zyp6UTDw
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— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) December 16, 2016
The President said, “I’ve said before I couldn’t be prouder of Sec. Clinton. Her outstanding service. I think she’s worked tirelessly on behalf the American people, and I don’t think she was treated fairly during the election. I think the coverage of her and the issues was troubling.”
Earlier in the press conference, Obama pointed to the media’s obsession with Clinton’s emails and illustrated how the press carried out Putin’s goals by covering each email leak with for weeks at a time.
The coverage was troubling because coverage of issues and policy differences was virtually non-existent during the 2016 campaign. The media was infatuated with Donald Trump. Trump got twice as many mentions on television as Clinton. The coverage towards Clinton was focused on her emails, or the Clinton Foundation, or her health.
The President was correct. By no objective metric could one conclude that amount of media coverage to each candidate was even. Trump got more coverage. The cable networks covered all of his rallies. The corporate media determined that Trump was good for business, so they pushed all Trump, all of the time.
Voters got shortchanged because the outlet that they depend on for information didn’t make an effort to inform them about the positions of the candidates. Obama was right. The coverage was troubling. Our political media became more like TMZ than C-SPAN, and in an election where voters needed television to step and inform them more than ever, they were disappointed.
Unfair is one word to describe the coverage that Hillary Clinton received. A more accurate term might be disgraceful.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
