On Sunday’s Reliable Sources CNN’s Brian Stelter brought up a serious issue for journalists, Secretary Hillary Clintons’ major lack of press conferences. He even brought on NPR’s White House Correspondent Tamara Keith to discuss the importance of pressers. “So with a press conference, you can pull out more information, or you can -- or it will be more clear that the candidate simply isn't answering,” she explained. But Stelter was more interested with Clinton’s health conspiracies than say a real issue, such as the FBI turning over their investigation notes to Congress.
Keith noted that it has need 260 days since Clinton has done a proper press conference outside of reporter gaggles and scrums at her events. And host Stelter rationalized it saying, “There is obviously political strategy here about why she’s not giving a press conference. She’s trying to sit on here lead, right?”
“Absolutely! I mean, why would she give a press conference? I mean, from a purely strategic stand point,” Keith agreed. To that Stelter argued that, “journalistically,” the media was in the right to demand more press conferences from Clinton. Keith also noted that with the advent of social media, and the internet at large, politicians no longer need the press to get their message out for them, which means they can more easily duck reporters.
But instead of highlighting important issues for the press to cover such as the FBI turning over their notes on their investigation into her private server; or the Clinton Foundation saying they’ll stop taking foreign donations if she’s president, Stelter chose to focus on poorly founded conspiracy theories.
“Journalists are always going to agitate for more questions,” he stated, “Because there are a lot of topics we would like to get her on the record about. One is her health, because there have been conspiracy theories floating around.”
By focusing on the conspiracies Stelter draws attention away from the real issues surrounding Clinton and the scandals people want answers for. Even Clinton lackey George Stephanopoulos managed to ask Clinton’s campaign manager the obvious, on Sunday, “Doesn’t it suggest that taking those contributions when Secretary Clinton was serving as secretary of state was wrong?”
