Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is widely believed to have a strong dislike for the national media, though there is no clear reason why. Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan thinks she knows the answer.
In an op-ed on Thursday, Noonan said Clinton, when she was first lady, didn’t initially grasp that just because reporters are generally liberal, that doesn’t mean they’re on her side.
“They know she hates them,” Noonan wrote. “A friend who is a veteran journalist recently explained why. In the late 1980s and early ’90s Hillary knew the boomer press was on the Clintons’ side ideologically and culturally — they were Democrats, and often friends. But she was surprised over the years to learn that didn’t mean they were on the team.”
She continued, “They reported the couple’s scandals, wrote critical articles and books. She felt, and feels, betrayed. She thought they were friends, and thought that meant fealty. It’s not a plus to have a distanced, unfriendly relationship with journalists.”
Since launching her second bid for the White House in April, Clinton has taken few questions from reporters. The most available she has made herself to the news media was for five minutes after a campaign event last week in Iowa.
CORRECTION: An earlier photo of this story appeared with an unrelated image. The Washington Examiner regrets the error.
