Friday, November 02, 2007

Covering Clinton's Birthday: Why 60 Is The New 80 For The Press

Walking down the street on Hillary Clinton's birthday a little while ago, I saw a preponderance of front-page salutes to her big 6-0.

It made me stop and think: why?

What's the big deal about 60? Why should we care? For some reason, the press thought it necessary to lead off the day's edition with that story and cover, and I couldn't for the life of me think why.

Is the press inadvertently supporting Hillary Clinton's campaign?

After all, Hillary Clinton is arguably the candidate with the least to attribute to her age. On the other hand, I saw (and anticipate seeing) few covers heralding Barack Obama's birthday, who is constantly under criticism for being too young and experienced a candidate. And switching sides, I didn't see any front covers for John McCain's birthday either, and he's remarkably older than the rest of the pack.

It seems to me that this non-story's impact was only in helping a Clinton campaign, and that in hindsight, it was a nearly-ethical slip. Honestly -- what was the point of this story? The Editorialiste wonders.

What do you think?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's because so many members of the press that cover elections are either 60 or approaching it. It's the "Me Generation" covering itself.

That's why.

Doug Mitchell