Political Figures Reporting the News
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Recently, NBC News hired Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, as a full time correspondent who will be reporting "feel-good features."
Hiring this highly-politicized character seems to be a publicity stunt and an attempt to boost ratings. Many journalists find it ironic Clinton is being hired to report the news when she has showed the press the cold shoulder in the past, refusing to ever be interviewed.
Clinton has no reporting experience and this makes NBC's hiring of her look like an attempt to captivate audiences with the use of famous figures, not professionals, as their reporters.
Additionally, some question whether Clinton can be seen as a trustworthy news reporter. Since both of her parents are active political figures, how can she be seen to present the news without biases? Won't people always associate her views with those of her parents?
Even though Clinton cannot escape being linked to her political family members, her starting role as "journalist" will keep her away from hard-news and politics. Clinton will be covering the fluff stories.
Clinton is not the first person from a political family to enter the world of journalism. In 2009, Jenna Bush Hager, George W. Bush's daughter was hired to NBC as a reporter. Is getting these political figures worth potentially harming the credibility of the station? Or do these women have the potential to break away from their parents' legacies and create their own?
2 comments:
Chelsea Clinton has remained out of the public eye, and she won't be reporting on politics. This is no different than a news station hiring a celebrity to be a correspondent. Of course, NBC is doing it for the publicity. However, is Clinton really any different than TV personalities such as Nancy Grace or Bill O'Reilly? Chelsea Clinton will move beyond being Bill Clinton's daughter or she will be another TV personality. Either way, NBC's ratings will determine whether she stays or goes.
I don't see this as an issue at all. Media outlets hire well-known "celebrities" all the time to be correspondents, and I don't think that Chelsea Clinton is much different than them. It would be a little different story if she was reporting politics because I think that the public would have a difficult time believing that she would remain neutal.
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