Hillary Clinton’s War on Critical Media

Hillary Clinton’s War on Critical Media

Team Hillary has a sad because the New York Times published articles that were critical of the embattled former Secretary of State. Clinton’s response? Declare war on the NYT and any other publication that publishes content portraying Mrs. Clinton in a negative light, naturally. Heaven forbid a newspaper do their one and only job.

Never mind that the NYT endorsed Hillary over Barack in 2008, or that they’ve largely danced around the whole FBI investigation thing. WAR. The best part? That while Team Hillary is launching mortars at “hostile” press, Mrs. Clinton is publicly declaring she’s infinitely and sincerely transparent.

Tuesday, the Weekly Standard noted how the NYT recent editorial shakeup followed complaints from the Hillary Clinton Fan Club.

Ever since the start of the campaign, Hillary Clinton boosters have been complaining about coverage of their candidate in the New York Times. And today the paper announced that Washington bureau chief Carolyn Ryan is being demoted — or shifting roles! — at the paper.

As the Huffington Post outlines, “The New York Times announced Tuesday that Elisabeth Bumiller, a veteran reporter and current Washington editor, will take over as Washington bureau chief — one of the paper’s most prestigious posts. Carolyn Ryan, who was named bureau chief in late 2013, will transition to a new role as senior editor for politics.”

Hillary boosters are publicly connecting what they see as bad coverage with Ryan’s new role at the paper.

“Earlier this summer, following a series of faulty reports, I called on New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. to take responsible steps necessary to reverse course on the seemingly institutional anti-Clinton bias at the paper,” David Brock, a professional Clinton booster, writes in a statement celebrating the move.

“The chronic lapses in accuracy and editorial judgement [sic] at The Times resulting in the dissemination of false information about Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton culminated in a front page story that the former secretary of state was the subject of a criminal investigation — an outrageous bogus charge The Times felt compelled to repudiate following intense pressure.

“I hope that with today’s announcement of new leadership in the Washington bureau this means that The Times’ coverage in the future will demonstrate a greater sense of accuracy and fairness in keeping with its own standards.”

If David Brock is excited, that’s a signal the rest of the reasonable world is screwed.

Thursday, Politico highlighted a soon-to-be-released book penned by Brock which accuses the Washington Bureau Chief Ryan of helping to turn the New York Times into a, “megaphone for conservative propaganda.” I’ll give you a minute to catch your breath because it gets better.

Brock’s book is entitled, “Killing the Messenger: The Right-Wing Plot to Derail Hillary Clinton and Hijack Your Government,” like Hillary needs any help “derailing” her own campaign. She seems to be doing a fine job of that on her own. But I digress.

Politico reports:

Brock, the former right-wing journalist-turned-pro-Clinton crusader, takes aim at a top New York Times editor in a soon-to-be released book obtained by POLITICO. In the book, titled “Killing the Messenger: The Right-Wing Plot to Derail Hillary Clinton and Hijack Your Government,” Brock accuses senior politics editor and former Washington bureau chief Carolyn Ryan of helping to turn the paper into a “megaphone for conservative propaganda” by unfairly targeting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The founder of liberal watchdog groups Media Matters and Correct the Record casts Bill and Hillary Clinton, whom he tormented in the 1990s as a reporter with the American Spectator, as personal and political angels who offered him access to some of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors.

But he uses the book as a platform to attack the Times — whose editorial board endorsed Clinton over Barack Obama in 2008 — over its approach towards the Clintons from the Whitewater investigations of the 1990s to the current coverage of Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

“As it concerns Clinton coverage, the Times will have a special place in hell,” he writes, claiming that interviews with current Times employees prove his case.

The 52-year-old Brock singles out Ryan, who directs the Times’ political coverage, for refusing to publish in full a Clinton spokesman’s response to the paper’s March scoop detailing Clinton’s use of a “homebrew” email server instead of her official State Department email account.

Essentially, Brock is angry the NYT had the gall to report the facts.

Needless to say, the NYT is not impressed. They responded saying:

A spokesperson for the paper — responding to inquiries sent to Ryan — emphatically denied Brock’s allegations and accused him of embarking on a politically motivated crusade to discredit accurate, fair-minded reporting.

“David Brock is an opportunist and a partisan who specializes in personal attacks,” Eileen Murphy told POLITICO in an email.

“We’ve seen him lash out at some of our aggressive coverage of important political figures and it’s unsurprising that he has now turned personal. He’s wrong on all counts,” she added.

Ryan, who on Tuesday was replaced by Elisabeth Bumiller as Washington bureau chief after two years in the job, is now focusing her time solely on the paper’s 2016 coverage as senior editor for politics.

The title change was largely symbolic, since Bumiller took over the day-to-day business of running the Washington bureau in January. Ryan, known for her unapologetically aggressive coverage of the candidates, including Clinton, is now back in New York full time.

Several Times reporters interviewed in recent months say Ryan, a former editor at the Boston Globe, is simply a hard-nosed editor doing her job.

“Carolyn Ryan has edited nearly every story I’ve written about the Clintons since I moved to the beat in 2013. She has always been a fair-minded, inspiring and brilliant editor who has never shown even a hint of bias (for or against) any candidate we cover,” Times reporter Amy Chozick said in an email. “I suppose being viscously attacked by both sides goes with the territory, but it is unfortunate that one of the best editors in the business is the target this time.”

When asked for details on Brock’s newsroom sourcing, a spokesman for his publisher, the Hachette Book Group, said he’d spoken to a “handful of people in [the Times’] New York and Washington newsrooms” but wouldn’t go into specifics.

Politico goes on to detail a handful of inaccuracies in negative Clinton articles published by the NYT.

The sense of entitlement coming from Team Hillary is expanding into all facets of political theatre. It’s no longer limited to the idea that Mrs. Clinton deserves the Oval office, a point made by Christopher Hitchens years ago. Evidently, Team Hillary demands lock-step cooperation from the media, at peril of lame expose a la David Brock or some other minion du jour. Because that’s just what this country needs — an even more incestuous relationship between the fourth first estates.

Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye

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