… With the media feeding frenzy the past two weeks over Hillary Clinton maintaining a private e-mail account while she was secretary of state, the 1990s dysfunctional marriage between the Clintons and the DC press has come roaring back—no lessons learned or maturity built up on either side since Bill was president. On the Clinton side, there is a hostility and lack of openness to the press that is self-defeating. It provokes the negative coverage it intends to avoid. On the press side, the DC establishment media always seems to believe that the current scandal will be the one to bring down the Clintons, all evidence to the contrary. …
I see three reasons the Clintons and the DC press are stuck in this endless cycle of dysfunction. The first two are explained in John Zaller’s excellent but never-published book manuscript, A Theory of Media Politics: How the Interests of Politicians, Journalists, and Citizens Shape the News. CONT.
Jonathan Ladd (Georgetown), Mischiefs of Faction