Press Coverage

Hillary Clinton has a reputation of being more liberal when compared to conservative, but she is more moderate in the big picture. The occurring theme of news stories I came across dealt with her email scandal and her apology to Obama after losing the race. This is clearly media driven news, which I’m sure her people have followed up on to ensure her image isn’t compromised; most of the time it is strictly media doing their thing. I have yet to see a story Clinton has generated herself to the world.

If I was advising Hillary, I’d suggest they pitch the ones about real world issues, not the constant email scandal. It needs to be the stuff that matters and isn’t old news. Positive news is always great as it hits home what the candidate is doing for the good of the people.

Conservative News: USA Today

College affordability was among her presidential platform and this news story has shown she is serious. Clinton endorsed New York’s free college program earlier this month. She is quoted saying, "We don't need to be building walls. We need to be building bridges. And the best bridge to the future is a good education" (Clinton, 2017). Bias wise, I don't see it. Maybe that comes from lack of political knowledge, but all of the articles seem relatively neutral and to the point.

Liberal News: Huffington Post

I don’t think it took a strong bias, considering this is who Clinton doesn’t identify with, which is interesting they don’t shed more negativity in the story. She fulfilled the promise made during her campaign to turnover the email list. This is a news story that lays out all the facts in an honest and civil manner. This is a smart move as it shows she is diligent and holds her promises true. Huffington Post is a much more relaxed source compared to a Fox News or CNN, in my opinion and experience reading their material.

My Choice: Business Insider

This news story deals with the new book Hillary wrote. It goes on to basically say Clinton blamed everyone but herself for her loss to President Trump. The information and views stated throughout clearly aim against Clinton, which makes this source biased in favor of the other party or just against Hillary in general. It is stated in other phone calls she declined to take responsibility for her own loss” (Allen and Parnes, 2017). They give an insider look into the Clinton Campaign of 2016.

Majority of the media coverage comes from various conservative news sources, with a small hint of liberal outlets. I think the biggest differences in news outlets are what details and point of view is taken in the story. Obviously, one is going to put more blame of the Candidate that isn’t of the party, but they seem to almost be similar. Titles are everything and they dictate how the story will be portrayed. News outlets are always looking to nail someone in a negative light to the suede the viewers thinking.

Sources:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/12/hillary-clinton-new-york-free-tuition/100377442/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-dnc-email-list_us_58f278b9e4b0da2ff8613acf

http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-blame-for-election-loss-to-trump-2017-4

Agenda-Setting

Hillary Clinton’s Issues

Hillary Clinton’s “vision for America” are the issues she has set fourth as most important on her agenda. It is organized by tabs with information within them as like “sub-categories” as different issues within the large main issue. These “issues” are (in order of importance): economy and jobs, education, environment, health, justice and equality, national security. It’s no surprise these are the main agenda issues due to her democratic party affiliation, which they are known for supporting these issues.

I strongly think she is focusing on these six issues is because each one of them are a major subject society continues to struggle with and talk about. Regardless, they affect every race, sex, religion, etc.

Bernie Sander’s Issues

During the campaign race, Bernie Sanders was only steps behind Clinton in the democratic primaries with a similar agenda, but there are differences.

Similarities

Equality

Education

Health

Economy

Jobs

Justice

Differences

College tuition free and debt free

Climate Change

Veterans 

Each candidate’s “issues” were comparable with what democratic party views as main agenda “issues” with Sanders going into more in-depth stances within the bigger issue. An example of this would be equality, which he shows his stance on women’s, LGBT, racial, and income/wealth   inequality. Clinton uses the broader subject of equality on her website.  It is important to note that Sander’s chose to run independently, but still affiliated as a democrat.

Top Issues

Equality and Education

Media is all over these two issues, nationally and globally. Coverage ranges from LGBTQ, gender, pay, and economic equality.  From my own experience, I can’t remember the last time I didn’t see a news article over one of these issues on my timeline of my various social media outlets. NEWS IS EVERYWHERE. With regards to these issues to politics, it’s the media, the electorate, and the campaigns setting the agenda; not just one specific group. I say this because without politics and the people within, we wouldn’t be discussing these topics in the news. It would be scores from sports or news about cows running loose on the highway. The important issues wouldn’t be brought about unless there were those trying to resolve them.

Sources

https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/

https://berniesanders.com

https://www.democrats.org

Clinton's Pop Culture

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

This SNL clip, Hillary Clinton Bar Talk was HILARIOUS! It features Kate McKinnon who portrays Hillary on SNL then features Hillary Clinton herself, who is a bartender named Val. Kate confides her concerns with Hillary about the 2016 presidential race. It is definitely worth the watch because the exchange between the two is very relevant to what occurred during the campaign trail.

Hillary Clinton has received numerous backlash on her lack of charisma, which is definitely covered during her performance on this clip. It hammers on Clinton’s Twitter bio that has been a hot topic of conversation, which describes her as a grandma, mother. The show puts a humorous twist to the play by adding human to the list of attributes. They also say, “its been a hard 22 years,” which highlights the fact that many believe Clinton’s political run has gone on for what seems an eternity. Let’s be real, are politics really politics without a Clinton?

Issues were discussed as well, such as the Keystone pipeline and gay marriage were of along with making fun of Donald Trump. The real Hillary (bartender) impersonates Trump’s dialect of speaking, which is quite funny and spot on in my opinion. The fake Hillary (McKinnon), who says she will “mount his hair” in the oval office when she takes presidency. That would be one heck of a wall piece in the famous office.

Clearly, this was a scripted act, which can exaggerate Clinton’s image or past encounters. So yes, pop culture can put that spin on stuff thrown out for the world to see via media outlets. It is all apart of the fun, but can make the portrayal far fetched. Towards the end fake Hillary (McKinnon) says, “I wish you could be president!” and real Hillary (bartender) responds, “me too!” It plays off the fact that Hillary has run for president twice now with big chances of losing yet again. It’s funny but it is a true and real outcome that could have happened, which it did.

Overall, this SNL clip effectively shapes and changes the image Hillary is trying to project. Like I said before, her lack of personality and charisma was on the opposite side of the scale she normally operates on. It shows the more relaxed, funny to joke about herself and situations and that is what the people have said they wanted to see. It isn’t about serious politics all the time with Clinton and I think we got to see that at times on media, such as her website and accounts that we talked about in an earlier blog regarding their social media. I wish there was more clips of such throughout the campaign because seeing serious clips quickly became old and I think we can all agree on that.