MSNBC cleaves to Clinton neckline coverage controversy

[NNN0LHI]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200708010003?f=h_latest

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on July 30, MSNBC devoted a total of 23 minutes and 42 seconds to segments discussing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) "cleavage." MSNBC broadcast separate segments on this topic during the hours of 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. ET, skipping only the noon and 4 p.m. hours. During the same period, CNN devoted 3 minutes and 54 seconds to coverage of Clinton's cleavage, while Fox News devoted none.

As Media Matters for America documented, in a July 20 Washington Post Style section article headlined "Hillary Clinton's Tentative Dip Into New Neckline Territory," staff writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Robin Givhan wrote that "{t}here was cleavage on display Wednesday afternoon on C-SPAN2. It belonged to Sen. Hillary Clinton." Givhan further asserted that Clinton's look was "unnerving" and claimed: "The last time Clinton wore anything that was remotely sexy in a public setting surely must have been more than a decade ago." Givhan added, "{I}t was more like catching a man with his fly unzipped. Just look away!" Following Givhan's article, several media outlets also picked up on the story. For instance, on the July 29 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, during an exchange with Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson and NBC chief foreign correspondent Andrea Mitchell, CNBC chief Washington correspondent John Harwood declared his intent to "defend" Givhan's article. Harwood asserted: "When you look at the calculation that goes into everything that Hillary Clinton does, for her to argue that she was not aware of what she was communicating by her dress is like Barry Bonds saying he thought he was rubbing down with flaxseed oil."

Media Matters reviewed each hour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET July 30 on MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN and documented the coverage devoted to Clinton's cleavage. Only news segments were analyzed; previews and teasers were not included in this review. Each segment specifically referred to Clinton's outfit and how much cleavage it showed during her July 18 speech on the Senate floor.

During the 9 a.m. ET hour, MSNBC host Amy Robach interviewed Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times to discuss the story. Robach introduced the story by saying "some critics are now saying that Senator Hillary Clinton may be trying to cash in on her cleavage," referring to a fundraising letter sent by the Clinton campaign calling Givhan's article "grossly inappropriate." While showing a graphic of Clinton's outfit, Robach asserted, in reference to Clinton's cleavage: "I don't even see much there. ... {T}hat looks like a shadow." Sweet said that she "want{ed} to invoke what Andrea Mitchell said yesterday {on Meet the Press}: Sometimes a blouse is just a blouse."