Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Is There a Difference Between Tina Fey and Katie Couric? Policing the Boundaries Between News and Entertainment
- 2 Media Regimes and American Democracy
- 3 And That's the Way It (Was)
- 4 Political Reality, Political Power, and Political Relevance in the Changing Media Environment
- 5 Politics in the Emerging New Media Age
- 6 When the Media Really Matter
- 7 9/11 and Its Aftermath
- 8 Shaping a New Media Regime
- References
- Index
5 - Politics in the Emerging New Media Age
Hyperreality, Multiaxiality, and the Clinton Scandals
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Is There a Difference Between Tina Fey and Katie Couric? Policing the Boundaries Between News and Entertainment
- 2 Media Regimes and American Democracy
- 3 And That's the Way It (Was)
- 4 Political Reality, Political Power, and Political Relevance in the Changing Media Environment
- 5 Politics in the Emerging New Media Age
- 6 When the Media Really Matter
- 7 9/11 and Its Aftermath
- 8 Shaping a New Media Regime
- References
- Index
Summary
President Clinton landed at lunchtime at Greater Cincinnati Airport.…Democratic politicians in the region who might have found a way to be there, had the President not been in such deep political trouble, stayed away.
– R. W. Apple, New York Times, September 18, 1998After the game, I’m watching the news, and I see a commercial for that “Titanic” video where they show the hundreds of people jumping overboard and abandoning ship. Then I realize it's not the “Titanic” – this is the news. It's Democrats leaving the White House.
– Jay Leno, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, October 28, 1998We are living in an era where the wall between news and entertainment has been eaten away like the cartilage of David Crosby's septum.
– Al Franken, Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations, 1999.In mid-January of 1992, the Star, a national tabloid specializing in stories about the personal lives of celebrities, published an article in which Gennifer Flowers claimed to have had a twelve-year affair with Bill Clinton, then the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. The story was initially downplayed in the mainstream press, in part because the allegations were two years old. It was also initially ignored because the Star, described in one mainstream newspaper article as better than most of the national tabloids but still a step below the National Enquirer, was deemed an unreliable news source.
The decision by Bill and Hillary Clinton to directly address the issue by appearing on 60 Minutes (a choice made in part because the show would air immediately following the Super Bowl and thus give them access to a very large audience) brought it more centrally into the mainstream press. The Clintons, who helped perfect the art of using the nontraditional media for political ends, also appeared on shows like Primetime Live, Donahue, The Arsenio Hall Show, and MTV either to directly refute or to deflect the allegation. Although the Clintons’ efforts were successful in rallying public support and partially diffusing the controversy, the alleged affair had gained some legitimacy within the mainstream press as a campaign issue – members of the press could point to the existence of legitimate sources (e.g., the Clintons themselves) and to the fact that other traditional news outlets were covering the story to justify their expanded coverage. The press could also justify covering what was initially defined as a private matter by focusing on the issue of whether the president was “lying” to the public.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- After Broadcast NewsMedia Regimes, Democracy, and the New Information Environment, pp. 135 - 167Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011