Hillary Clinton in the News

Gender and Authenticity in American Politics

Author: Shawn J. Parry-Giles

How the media helped construct political gender norms—and critiqued Hillary Clinton for violating them

Cloth – $110

978-0-252-03821-1

Paper – $29

978-0-252-07978-8

eBook – $19.95

978-0-252-09604-4

Publication Date

Cloth: 02/17/2014

Buy the Book Request Desk/Examination Copy Request Review Copy Request Rights or Permissions Request Alternate Format
Book Share Preview

About the Book

The charge of inauthenticity has trailed Hillary Clinton from the moment she entered the national spotlight and stood in front of television cameras. Hillary Clinton in the News: Gender and Authenticity in American Politics shows how the U.S. media created their own news frames of Clinton's political authenticity and image-making, from her participation in Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign through her own 2008 presidential bid.

Using theories of nationalism, feminism, and authenticity, Parry-Giles tracks the evolving ways the major networks and cable news programs framed Clinton's image as she assumed roles ranging from surrogate campaigner, legislative advocate, and financial investor to international emissary, scorned wife, and political candidate. This study magnifies how the coverage that preceded Clinton's entry into electoral politics was grounded in her earliest presence in the national spotlight, and in long-standing nationalistic beliefs about the boundaries of authentic womanhood and first lady comportment. Once Clinton dared to cross those gender boundaries and vie for office in her own right, the news exuded a rhetoric of sexual violence. These portrayals served as a warning to other women who dared to enter the political arena and violate the protocols of authentic womanhood.

About the Author

Shawn J. Parry-Giles is a professor of communication and director of the Center for Political Communication and Civic Leadership at the University of Maryland and the coauthor of The Prime-Time Presidency: The West Wing and U.S. Nationalism.

Reviews

"In Hillary Clinton in the News, the author builds a steady and compelling argument about the recurring frames the news media have used to portray Clinton in her many roles as first lady, policy advocate, legal defendant, political candidate, international emissary, and U.S. senator. . . . the images and discourse surrounding Hillary Clinton in the broadcast media provide a fascinating case study of the rhetorical relationship between gender and power."--H-Net Reviews

"Parry-Giles presents a fascinating analysis of media framing of Hillary Clinton, exploring the tone and frames used to present Clinton in various stages of her political career. . . .Recommended."--Choice

"Parry-Giles has written a lucid monograph about news representations of a political woman--a book that opens urgent conversations for other scholars to join."--Rhetoric Review

"As Parry-Giles's book aptly illustrates, coverage of her in broadcast media is disconcertingly predictable."--Rhetoric & Public Affairs

Blurbs

"Shawn J. Parry-Giles has written an insightful, exhaustive, and historically rooted analysis of Hillary Rodham Clinton's numerous media permutations. The book will be useful to non-academics as well as academic researchers as we seek to understand the role news media play in constructing the public personae of women."--Mary Douglas Vavrus, author of Postfeminist News: Political Women in Media Culture