On Saturday, the internet exploded after Hillary Clinton’s campaign lasso’d reporters covering an Independence Day parade into an actual, mobile pen. It was a terrible visual for the Clinton machine, and as Aleister pointed out yesterday, revealed yet another crack in the facade hiding an operation that is barely holding itself together.
Yesterday’s State of the Union panel roundly lampooned the entire disaster, but it was S.E. Cupp who stood up and pointed out what many of our commenters have been saying for some time now—this is the media’s fault.
Watch:
Mediaite transcribed (emphasis mine):
On that note, commentarian S.E. Cupp said the political press needed to grow some backbone. “This is humiliating for reporters who have to abide by Hillary Clinton’s rules of journalism,” she said on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday morning.“And it’s not just this. It’s the entire campaign. She has kept them at a distance, she barely answers questions, there’s all these rules. And actually I don’t blame her, I blame reporters who put up with this. The second they decide we’re not doing this anymore, we’re not going to cover your glossy events the way you want it, then she’ll be forced to change this behavior.”
Finally, a visual aid to accompany the cold hard fact that Hillary Clinton’s handlers are terrified of the media. Whether it’s her or her people making these decisions is irrelevant; what matters is that the media hasn’t done its job with regards to this particular candidate.
I’ve been on both sides of the rope, so to speak; handling press relations for a high profile candidate isn’t an easy job, but at the end of the day, you have to finesse the balance between boundaries and access. Hiding is not an option, and neither is letting reporters take chunks out of your guy; if you’re working comms for a campaign and you lose control of your relationship with the people who have been tasked with following you around the country and writing about your many adventures with bunting, you need to find another job yesterday.
What you’re seeing here is a loss of control, and a media pool that, for the most part, is unwilling to exploit it. Personally, I blame everyone here. The Clinton machine’s unwillingness to behave like a political campaign bothers me immensely as a matter of principle; but what bothers me even more is the pool’s unwillingness to pitch a fit in the middle of the street, set up the shoulder cam, and start blasting these idiots for everything they’re worth.
Reporters assigned to cover Clinton should either start using their megaphone, or surrender the damn thing, pick up a t-shirt, and claim flack status. Their cover is officially blown.
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