Clinton, Trump, and why the media are failing us in 2016

GEORGE ORWELL ONCE wrote that, “to see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” Rarely have these words seemed more apt than this campaign season — and in particular when it comes to the Clintons and their eponymously named foundation.

There is a particular media narrative around the Clintonsthat has persisted for 25 years. They think the rules don’t apply to them. They are always pushing the envelope. They don’t consider the optics of what they do. They may not have engaged in illegal behavior, but they are still personally, even morally corrupt.

Of course, Republicans have taken this last one to a more sinister conclusion — namely that Hillary Clinton should be, as the chant goes, “locked up.”

What’s so strange about this narrative, however, is that even after being placed under the most intense media microscope in modern political history, we can say with some assuredness that the Clintons aren’t corrupt. Yet seemingly no amount of evidence can convince a jaded press corps and a skeptical electorate that this is true....more