Wisconsin media plays into hands of Clinton campaign
I’m getting a huge kick watching the Wisconsin media get played by the Clinton campaign. They are falling all over themselves to shout “first” and are willing to report any slight indication of a Clinton coming to the state – even if a time or place has yet to be confirmed. I help run a tiny little collaborative blog and I’m even getting “leaks.”
“Hillary. Madison. Monday.” Eight hours later…
“Date moved. Now Saturday.”
Ummm…hello? Time? Place? No? Well, screw it. I don’t care. Not relevant.
The current hoopla with the former President Bill Clinton is a perfect indication of what is going on. The leak comes out that Bill Clinton will be speaking in Madison on Thursday. At some point. Somewhere.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, Badger Herald, and more, all pop up a breaking news headline. The buzz starts. We wait. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing…oh…4:30 p.m. it comes in: Stock Pavailion at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. Just fresh enough so it can get a mention on the evening news and also time enough for a second headline can make it into the morning papers.
Next: Oh, by the way, Hillary is coming to Madison on Monday. No time or place. BREAKING NEWS. Oh, wait, we meant on Saturday, still no time or place, but BREAKING NEWS!!! Oh wait, maybe not, according to the most recent article in the WSJ: “Clinton’s state campaign spokeswoman, Carly Lindauer, said Clinton expects to stop in Madison at some point, although details have not been worked out.”
String ‘em along, Hillary. Well played. My hat is off.
I know we talked about this yesterday, but I could not agree more. You call it manipulation, I call it smart campaigning. No one is forcing the media to jump on this stuff, they are still making the choice. Maybe this is a problem with the “instant media” of the internet – everyone wants to try and break stories and get hits rather then write a true “in depth” story that people will read.
Laaaame. Let’s reward her campaign with an Obama victory, eh?