Unsurprisingly, the coronation of Hillary Clinton has begun, and the media are certainly playing their role to prop her up, especially as she looks to center her presumptive campaign around women’s issues.
While covering her speech Wednesday morning, NBC’s “Today” Show and CBS’s “This Morning” both talked up Clinton’s portions of her speech focused on equal pay for equal work and standing up for women. However, both declined to mention the Free Beacon’s report that Clinton paid female staffers in her U.S. Senate office 72 cents for each dollar paid to men during their combined four minutes of coverage.
According to the Free Beacon’s analysis, “the median annual salary for a woman working in Clinton’s office was $15,708.38 less than the median salary for a man.”
On “Today,” NBC’s Andrea Mitchell spoke glowingly of Clinton’s work and ongoing fight for women across the nation, while pushing Clinton’s remarks on the issues in her address to a women’s conference in Silicon Valley Tuesday afternoon.
“Last time Clinton played down her gender to prove she was tough enough to be commander in chief,” Mitchell said. “This time she’ll play up her gender, focusing on equal pay for women, family leave, issues she’s fought for all her life.”
“We all cheered at Patricia Arquette’s speech at the Oscars because she is right. It’s time to have wage equality once and for all,” Clinton said during her address, which “Today” aired.
Meanwhile, at CBS, reporter Nancy Cordes echoed Mitchell’s reporting, telling host Charlie Rose how Clinton had advocated wage equality and women’s issues during her time at the State Department.
“In the heart of Silicon Valley, Clinton chastised the tech industry for hiring fewer women and paying them less and she took on rigid family leave policies across the economy,” CBS reporter Nancy Cordes said.
“Women’s issues aren’t a new focus for the former First Lady,” Cordes continued. “As Secretary of State she advocated for wage equality and universal education and got, she says, a mixed reception.”
“Clinton downplayed gender in her first bid for president as she sought to show she was tough enough for the job,” Cordes added.
The speech was Clinton’s first speech on U.S. soil in 2015 and comes ahead of a possible White House campaign, which is slated to get underway in July.
[h/t: Newsbusters]