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Leaked emails show Hillary Clinton’s campaign discussed how they need to “pretend” members of the press are “serious” to give them an “ego boost” because they are losing their jobs to “23-year-old bloggers who make listicles about drinking games.”
A leaked email chain shows Clinton speechwriting director Dan Schwerin, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, Clinton director of communications Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, and others discussing Clinton’s prospective remarks for the Robin Toner Prize, a journalism award for political reporting.
In the email, Schwerin said one of the main objectives for Clinton’s speech was to “clear the air a bit with the press, possibly with self-deprecating humor” and talk about the importance of serious journalism while also defending Obamacare.
Schwerin sought for advice on scripting jokes for Clinton, asking, “Do the jokes in here work? Do you have suggestions for punching any of them up?”
Joel Benenson, Clinton’s chief strategist, said he didn’t think the jokes would play out well, but suggested jokes about private emails:
I don’t think the jokes are working – a little too close to the bone without a punchline that really works at taking the seriousness out of it.
Wonder if we could have think of a few funny “private” emails to reporters that she could read…. Obviously they would have to be both self-deprecating but could poke a little fun at them…
Later on in the chain, Palmieri said the campaign needs to “pretend everyone in the audience is a serious, on the level journalist trying to get the story right and cover serious issues” because the journalists need an “ego boost” since they’re losing their jobs to “23 yr old bloggers who make listicles about drinking games at Northwestern”:
So, my take is that the best way for HRC to connect with this audience is to show some empathy as opposed self-deprecating humour which at some level is making the event about her.
Let's pretend everyone in the audience is a serious, on the level journalist trying to get the story right and cover serious issues in an absurdly difficult environment where speed and mass appeal are over valued. Have her commend them on how hard they all work in this difficult environment to tell the facts, unearth important stories (maybe we can reference some good stories on important issues that we would not know about where it not for nyt and other outlets). Robin is the model for getting to both substance and telling the human side of the story. Robin hasn't been gone for very long, but it has gotten even harder in the intervening years to do what she did - think if HRC acknowledges that and says she and all thoughtful people appreciate the struggle the reporters in the room face, and how impt it is that they keep at it, how needed they really are - think that would go over really well. The press is the most hated profession and they are all losing [t]heir jobs to 23 yr old bloggers who make listicles about drinking games at Northwestern. Let's give them an ego boost.
Palmieri also called Clinton a “victim of the new speed and click bait above all else” and claimed Clinton is no longer a fan of the New York Times:
She should poke fun at herself but I would maybe do it along the lines of how press thinks she doesn't like them, but what a life-changing revelation it was to her to read the nyt as a young woman (I know she now thinks less of them, but still) and how much she loves npr and all the wonky stories. I would also do an email joke - maybe some emails between her and the press, I will think more about that.
Clinton’s speech included a joke about her emails and a quip about being being more open to the press because, she asks, “what good did that do me?”
But I am all about new beginnings: a new grandchild, another new hairstyle, a new email account. Why not a new relationship with the press? So here goes: no more secrecy, no more zone of privacy — after all, what good did that do me?