Clinton Emails, Worth the Coverage?

On Sept. 13 Clinton’s pneumonia and her “deplorables” comment dominated all three evening news broadcasts. CBS, however, then made a different turn.

CBS covered a congressional hearing regarding the former secretary of state’s private email server—the third hearing in five days. ABC, NBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post ignored the hearing.

In the words of Scott Pelley, anchor of CBS Evening News, the email controversy is “one thing that Clinton can’t seem to shake.”

At what point is continuing to cover this story overkill? A recent poll from Monmouth University shows 64 percent of Americans question Clinton’s honesty when it comes to her email server. Still, 63 percent say they are tired of hearing about her emails.

Patrick Murray, director of the Independent Monmouth Polling Institute, pointed out the percentage of Americans who do not believe Clinton has been honest about her emails has not changed since primary season. Murray suggests the negative impact is already maxed out.

Jack Laurence, former CBS and ABC correspondent, thinks that covering less recent issues, such as the Clinton email scandal, is still newsworthy.

“What is newsworthy on any given day is the decision of the broadcast news team that includes editors, producers, reporters and anchor. What the public thinks about newsworthiness of the story should not be a factor,” said Laurence.

On the other hand Norman Ornstein, contributing editor of The Atlantic,  said: “The coverage of Clinton emails and the Foundation, measured not just in number of stories but in placement, allocation of resources and column inches (again, not WaPo) and in lead stories, minutes on air, is in my view over the top.”

We will continue to follow the coverage of this topic as the campaign progresses.