Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton talked about her "complicated" relationship with the press during a keynote address at this year's Toner Prize Celebration. (The Toner Program in Political Reporting)
"I am all about new beginnings," Hillary Clinton said at event honoring the late New York Times Robin Toner Monday night in Washington. "A new grandchild, another new hairstyle, a new e-mail account. The relationship with the press. So here goes: no more secrecy. No more zone of privacy. After all, what good did that do me?
Clinton made clear that her change of heart was decidedly tongue in cheek, adding: "Before I go any further, look under your chair, youll find a simple non-disclosure agreement my attorneys drew up. Old habits last."
ZING!
Here's the thing: Clinton shouldn't be joking. She badly needs a new relationship with the press after a 2008 campaign that was marked by the remarkably uncivil daily interactions between her press team and the reporters tasked with covering the campaign. (I am far from blameless in that as a participant in plenty of skirmishes that, in retrospect, were so tiny and meaningless as to not make much of a difference in even the short term.)
And, in her hires for the not-yet-announced-but-come-on-everyone-knows-she's-doing-it presidential campaign there does seem to be an acknowledgment that the press shop needs an entirely different approach. As Peter Nicholas wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal:
Mrs. Clintons new campaign is shaping up to be a hybrid of longtime Clinton and Obama political operatives. Tensions are inevitable.But Mrs. Clinton seems to want some sort of rapprochement with the press.
Three of the people she has recently tapped for key spots in her media operation suggest as much.All have strong ties to the press corps; none is known for a combative approach to the media.
He's exactly right. Jennifer Palmieri, who is expected to be the communications director, has a long history with the national media -- from her time working for John Edwards' presidential bid to her service as a senior press person in the Obama White House. Brian Fallon, expected to be the national press secretary, spent time on Capitol Hill with the irrepressible Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) before going to head press operations at the Justice Department. And Jesse Ferguson, who is expected to play a major role in the Clinton 2016 press shop, comes out of the world of House Democratic politics and is known -- by me and lots of other reporters -- for his reasonableness.
Those hires will likely make some difference in how the Clinton campaign deals with the media. But, the key question is not really the philosophy of the people Clinton has hired when it comes to dealing with the media. It's whether she (and her husband) have actually changed their mind in any meaningful way about their approach to the press.
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The Fix: Hillary Clinton promised a new relationship with the media. She was kidding.