Katie Couric: Sexist Media Hurt Hillary Clinton's Chances

Adding to her comments last night in Washington — "that Sen. Clinton received some of the most unfair, hostile coverage I've ever seen" — Katie Couric has filmed a Keith Olbermann-style special commentary (called ner "Notebook") slamming the media for its sexist coverage of Hillary Clinton and claiming that the sexist coverage hurt her chances at becoming the Democratic party nominee. The Notebook will air tonight on CBS affiliates and on CBS radio, and will live on CBSNews.com.

"One of the great lessons of [Hillary Clinton's] campaign is the continued and accepted role of sexism in American life, particularly in the media....It isn't just Hillary Clinton who needs to learn a lesson from this primary season — it's all the people who crossed the line, and all the women and men who let them get away with it."

Watch the video below:

Couric's reference in the video to "mainstream pundits saying they instinctively cross their legs at the mention of her name" is specifically about Tucker Carlson, who often made such a claim while still on MSNBC during the campaign.

Last night, without naming names, Couric seemed to excoriate both MSNBC's Chris Matthews — who has come under fire for sexist remarks against Hillary Clinton — and NBC's Lee Cowan — who reportedly said he found it "hard to stay objective" covering Obama — saying, "That's your job...find another line of work." Matthews notoriously announced that he "felt [a] thrill going up [his] leg" while listening to Obama speak, and was forced to apologize for sexist remarks against Clinton in January.

Comments

[kira181]

02:16 AM on 06/16/2008

Good job, Katie.

[KarenKaren]

04:04 PM on 06/13/2008

Could she just please go away?

[Actionmac]

11:51 AM on 06/13/2008

The INCOMPETENT defending the INCOMPETENT... not good for women's issues when two high profile women blame sexism for THEIR inability to do the job competently.

[duze]

07:33 AM on 06/13/2008

Vote for McCain just because your up in a tizzie behind Hillary. Listen to this McCain will appoint Supreme Court Justices that WILL over turn Roe v. Wade, Civil Rights, Equal Pay, Medical Coverage for the average American and your right to choose. If in your small minds your willing to give up all these hard fought for right up, well by all means go ahead. Things will work out for Hillary and Obama.
Their wealthy, don't need Rov v. Wade, Equal Pay, Medical Insurance, and aren't about to lose their homes. They can move on and care less about what you destroyed for yourselves. So you see when Hillary feels your pain and associates herself with living in a poor town in Scranton PA,
try to move to Chappaqua and see how fast your small town ass is arrested.

[LJMinOKC]

02:10 AM on 06/13/2008

Hillary has only herself and Bill to thank for her loss. How does she think she can be elected to the highest office in the land by telling lie after lie. As usual, she practices old time politics "promise the voters anything and everything, but deliver nothing." She never delivered anything worthwhile to her voters. She couldn't get her medical plan passed, because she was secretive and divisive, not open and inclusive. That is not how things work in Washington and she has yet to learn that lesson. When you make a mistake, (which she did on her Iraq war vote) you should be responsible enough to say, I made a mistake and move on. She, like Bush, can't admit she made any mistakes and still doesn't. I call that not facing facts and reality. When you think about it, REALITY was not part of her campaign. Why don't we just call her Hillary the teller of tale tales and let it go at that.

[Mathmn]

03:27 AM on 06/13/2008

Agreed, Hillary was her own worse enemy and Bill was worser. That being said whether grammatical or not, sexism was rampant on the radio and TV during this Primary campaign. Even those latte drinking elites on Air America were on her case. I watched every debate, listened to hundreds of pundits analyzing these debates and came away with the same conclusion that Ms. Couric did.

[nippyfan]

11:45 PM on 06/12/2008

Hillary Clinton, during this campaign, appeared to lose her marbles right in front of us. Why is everyone trying to place blame everywhere but right on the Clinton's Harlem front door step.

Her kitchen-sink tactics, lies (or forgetfulness), husband's comments and just plain short-circuited campaign lost her the election. Point Blank. She actually went in reverse. I started thinking very highly of her and wasn't thinking about Obama, because I too supported the Bill Clinton campaign, but after following this campaign closely and reading articles and just plain watching Hillary Clinton show three different faces at any given time, when It came time for me to vote. I had to vote for the one who appeared to keep his marbles with him, even under pressure.

Being President is the MOST pressure. If she's crying and hyming and hawing over this election, imagine her as president. The Republican's won't listen to me because I'm a woman..wah, wah, wah. They didn't listen to Bill Clinton either. It has nothing to do with sexism.

[yoyo1959]

02:43 AM on 06/13/2008

Nippyfan: you are crazy, as are most of your Clinton-hater friends on this blog. You all need your marbles checked, and stop making political commentary just because you can.

[majorteddy]

11:13 PM on 06/12/2008

It's all Walter Cronkite's fault that people don't watch the CBS Evening News. If he hadn't continued the fine tradition of their news program, maybe people wouldn't have expected any quality and Katie's lighter than air news program would be a bigger seller.

[nonofyabusiness]

11:12 PM on 06/12/2008

Soon the post-mortem will be on Courics career as a news anchor at CBS......

[MM5]

11:05 PM on 06/12/2008

Katie Couric wants to believe that sexism is solely responsible for her current failure as an anchor. So no surprise that she is pushing the sexism storyline. While no one can claim that sexism is dead, the problem for both Hillary and Couric is far more themselves than any sexism. Couric was the perky host of the Today Show cracking jokes and being generally light hearted - for people to then see her as the serious evening news anchor is hard. Hillary fell because she was seen as dishonest and triangulating - this was due to past and present scandals, her actions towards Obama and being caught in lies. Blaming sexism may make each one feel better but unfortunately for them the real reason is themselves.

[yoyo1959]

02:45 AM on 06/13/2008

Tell the millions of women who supported Clinton that sexism is dead....your fantasy is charming. Unfortunately, some women on this blog are just as sexist, if not more.

[lisac63]

09:49 PM on 06/12/2008

I NEVER saw in the exit polls where people said that they would not vote for a woman for president. I did however see in the exit polls in W VA and KY especially, where people stated that there is NO WAY they would vote for a black man. Women no longer have to face that type of discrimination, and I suggest Katie has no clue what she is talking about. And before people make false assumptions....no, I am not black. I am a 44 year old white woman who was much more disappointed in the racism in this country than the small amount of sexism I witnessed. I'm also sick and tired of these Nazi feminists coming up with excuses for why Hillary lost. Mark Penn said today that she lost because of money issues and problems within the campaign itself. He should know as he was supposedly the head honcho during most of the campaign. I'll take his word over someone who obviously has no clue and is getting ready to yell sexism when she loses her job on the evening news shortly.

[Independent voter]

09:38 PM on 06/12/2008

This is such specious, tiresome BS.

Here's an apparent news flash Katie. Hillary Clinton lost the election for one reason. It had nothing to do with race, gender, age, religion, shoe size, botox, hair bleach, the weight of sheep dung or wages at WalMart.

Are you ready Katy...you might not be able to handle the truth; but Hillary Clinton lost because of Hillary Clinton. She was a flawed candidate with an inflated resume, an inconsistent message, constant lies and triangulation, a unique inability to manage anything from her spouse to her budet.

It is nobody's fault - so all of the Clinton girls can stop waving the bony finger outward and look inward to find the real problem. Hillary lost because of Hillary. End of story.

So stop your petulant little girl whining and move on with life.

I am so sick of Hillary's drones who keep threatening to vote for McCain. I say go ahead and vote for him and let McCain send your children to die in Iran and Pakistan. What a bunch of sore losers. Next time back a better candidate.

ARGH!

[HopeGirl]

10:07 PM on 06/12/2008

Amen and Amen,

I would like to know why they think all the whining and blaming is going to inspire anything but disgust.

On of them on the radio this morning said that it was the media that caused Hillary to loose. When asked why she was upset at Obama, she had no answer. She said Obama had better show Clinton the utmost respect or else.

I think of what Obama endured from Clinton, month and month-with no retaliation, what he endure the week he EARNED the nomination at her hand...

Enough. I am not into extortion by a bunch of nuts that think that lying, blaming and whining is the path to greatness.

[DCtrain]

08:37 PM on 06/12/2008

Couric may have been a victim of sexism, but hillary lost the race fair and square, even with all the racism

[lvuback1]

09:24 PM on 06/12/2008

The fact that you think it was fair and square only illustrates just how effective the media's campaign against Hillary has been.

[HopeGirl]

10:14 PM on 06/12/2008

You mean the no stop press sh received? You mean how they never reported on any of the scandals she was involved in in the 90s? How they avoided the elephant in the room-Monica and Impeachment? How they did not report on all of the racist Robo calls and the hateful mailers and the viral emails about her rival being a dangerous Muslim? You mean how they never looked into who and how her campaign was financed?

I could go on and on and on...

The whining is pathetic. The blaming means she and you will never learn. The failure to take personal responsibility is foolish.

[gianardil]

07:47 PM on 06/12/2008

I was watching the Today Show one morning while I was taking care of my mother. Vin Diesel was the guest because he had the movie XXX coming out. There was a conversation between Matt and Vin about all the women chasing him, and he just laughed it off. After the commercial break Katie said "I have no idea why any woman would find him attractive, he is just a turn-off." Then she said something else, and actually stuck out her tongue. She did not realize they were back on the air. Matt, Ann, and Al were just staring at her in shock. She royally insulted the man, and he had not even left the studio. I could not believe it. So, Katie can insult anyone she wants, and when KO calls her on it, it is a major gaffe. It was awful. So Rachel S. has no business commenting on KO telling the truth about her behavior. She is a guest on MSNBC all the time. ODD.

[nonofyabusiness]

02:24 AM on 06/13/2008

Not for long

[eden4barack08]

07:25 PM on 06/12/2008

Leave her alone!
The poor woman's just trying to find her 'voice' and save her millions-paying job, that she got no thanks to sexism!

[SanityClaus]

06:34 PM on 06/12/2008

Isn't this special? It was so thoughtful for HuffPo to post a thread around which all the sore losers could steam and stew and give each other "you go girls!" for calling out the big mean sexist media.

Meanwhile, everyone else has moved on to the general election.

But don't let me interrupt your estrogen-fest. Resume male-bashing...