NYT Public Editor: Dowd "Went Over the Top" in Clinton Coverage

In an article on media sexism in the Democratic primary, NYT Public Editor Clark Hoyt singles out Maureen Dowd's columns as deserving more scrutiny:

Peggy Aulisio of South Dartmouth, Mass., said, "A real review of your own stories and columns is warranted." I think so too. And I think a fair reading suggests that The Times did a reasonably good job in its news articles. But Dowd's columns about Clinton's campaign were so loaded with language painting her as a 50-foot woman with a suffocating embrace, a conniving film noir dame and a victim dependent on her husband that they could easily have been listed in that Times article on sexism, right along with the comments of Chris Matthews, Mike Barnicle, Tucker Carlson or, for that matter, Kristol.

While arguing that many complaints about Times' coverage "reflect a shoot-the-messenger anger," Hoyt concludes that complaints about Dowd in particular were justified: "She, I think, by assailing Clinton in gender-heavy terms in column after column, went over the top this election season."

Read more about anti-Clinton sexism in the media here.

Comments

[TruEngineHearing]

The concept behind the job of NYT Public Editor is the ass with a paycheck.

[Faxus]

The Clinton are gone, why are all you bozos still harping on them? All I read here is Hillary and Bill, Hillary and Bill... Hillary has lost. She is toast, but you folks are fixated on her. I've noticed that a lot of you are closet republicans, Operation Chaos stooges for Rush. Well, you won the game and hufferspost is now all yours. Enjoy it! ;)

[CookieWrites]

Maureen Dowd uses her privilege as a NY Times columnist to carry her Machiavellian intent regardless of the victim. In the case of Hillary Clinton, Dowd fulfilled her own sadistic satisfaction at the expense of journalism. When will America’s newspaper of record decide to run a woman columnist who represents women’s perspective?

[trevor01]

Gail Collins is always funny and usually has something interesting to say. The guilty pleasure of reading Dowd has become, in recent years, more like a tedious chore.

[vocalist]

Even a broken clock is right twice a day...Bush was also right once..
Given name of Dowd by Bush is rightfully "COBRA".

[SEQUOIABISON]

I am not a big Dowd fan but on her coverage of Hillary I think she had it just about right.

[ariadne1]

the clinton's cowed most of the press through intimidation. using 'media matters and now to put the heat on nbc. .. give me a break. i am a female boomer and have no problems with the way dowd handled the clintons, who, by the way, are notoriously rude to the press.

the clintons are experts at manipulating the media. anyone remember that little 'iron my shirt' trick that won her new hampshire? clinton started playing the gender card when she lost iowa; the ' tears' when she explained how she makes it through each day.

politics equals tough business..­. no special treatment should be expected due to gender. how many men need the time to 'recover' after losing their bid for the white house? if you can't run with the big dogs... stay on the porch.

[beaupritchard]

I kjnow ... I know ... poor Hillary (sheesh)

[cacique88]

Maureen Dowd did a great job of exposing the lunacy of the Clinton Campaign and the win at all costs approach taken by Both Hillary and her husband. She exposed the bubble around which Clinton campaigned in the last 2 months and showed why the damage the Clintons did runs very deep. Time will tell if the wounds will heal.

Clinton is beginning to face problems in NY where African American and Latinos are still peeved at her drumming up support from white racists and liberal Democrats are now finding out how much of a right wing mole she really is. Obama should use Clinton as much as he can to unify the Party but needs to reject her kind of politics.

[w&cheneysuck]

It's nice to see the "do as I say, not as I do" attitude exposed. I believe that most of the MSM tread too lightly and are afraid of being "Politically Incorrect" that are absent of any true journalism. I find it interesting that the Hillary supporters keep playing the "sexism" card and yet they have isolated a race in doing so...What happened to ethics?

[pleeezzze]

More like , she did'nt expose anything , she made it up along with your ilk !
You can take your so called UNITY and shove it you know where . In NY AAs, I hope it shows all of you that your nastiness toward H illary has caused him to Lose .

What was all that grossness toward her really for ? " O to win no matter what ".
"Tough" he loses .

[JimR]

The only problem with your "analysis" is that Dowd has also criticized Obama.

Oh, but I know what you're going to say... nobody has received the harsh treatment Hillary has. NOBODY. Not in the entire HISTORY of the planet! Oh, the poor dear.

Give me a break.

[Phil123]

The Treason Times, and Down in particular have been consistently over the top for years when it comes to trashing conservatives.

It's funny that they were completely oblivious to their biased and tendetious style of "reporting" until they threw the Clintons under the bus. Now the libs are "shocked" to see that Dowd has gone "over the top."

No wonder their readership is in steady decline. The Times was once the epitomy of a great newpaper. It has become a disgrace and a rag under years of extreme leftist editorializing of "the news."

[TruEngineHearing]

It is not one of your rights to have the NYT just the way you want it. Read the Post - you'll find your ilk is waiting for you with open arms and bad arguments.

[chaz]

Their readership isn't the only thing on a steady decline or haven't you noticed that this country has been in a steady decline thanks to George W. Bush, The Republican party, the National Media (which the Republicans continue to call liberally bias and yet they continue to weaken FCC oversight in order to strengthen the national media) and individuals like yourself who keep your head in the sand. Keep watching fox noise. Idiot!

[iburl]

Go play kissy face with your Rush Limbaugh doll Phil.

[Phil123]

Go play kissy-butt with your lib pals, pal.

[xpresv]

Oh yeah, because the NYT is SOOO left. Whatever. First of all, it's Maureen DOWD, with a D. Second, the NYT has bent over backwards to accommodate the BS points-of-view coming from the blowhards on the right. Case in point: William Kristol's Op-Ed assignments.

I am an INDEPENDENT who sees all MSM as coddling to the right in the name of "balance." In response to the attacks from the right labeling them as "liberal media," they have indulged in misinformation and propaganda.

Sit down for another dose of Hannity, whydon'tya?

[olivia]

Dowd did a hit job on Obama too. You can google it up and Media Matters addressed it because it was mostly without substantiation.

There was no huge public outcry when Dowd creamed Obama.

[pleeezzze]

You mean like that TRIPE you always post anti C linton ??
You would'nt know a FACT if it slapped you .

[Crake]

Am I the only one seeing this as a case of McCain's Media being grilled for not doing enough to get Hillary to be the democratic nominee to give the Neo-Conservatives and easy November? Am I being paranoid?

[justaskinman]

I'm a white guy, preferred Clinton and now I'm down with the liberation theology.

Feminism is asleep. Some day women will look back at this time and be more embarrassed than an African American watching Step 'n' Fetchit.

Dowd isn't the story. She's a clever phrase turner. Some of the sexism attributed to the men is just shooting the messenger. The bastards who designed, manufactured, distributed, marketed, sold and purchased the Hillary nutcrackers aren't quite as disturbing as the wives and girlfriends who giggled and enabled.

THE STORY is the sexism of women themselves. Women stood by and demanded nothing. It's the prominence of senior women in Clinton's campaign because feminism is unfashionable among the stinking Boomers. It's Clinton, who thought she had to vote for the war to prove she could be a man. It's the way Dowd's hatred illustrated [in a way Clinton did not] the only reservation I've ever heard an educated man state about women in power: emotionalism.

I nominate Bill Clinton as President of the National Organization of Women. Seriously, the women running women's organizations should get the 'Heckuva' Job, Brownie!' Awards for 2008

[qwr]

What a load of drivel. You're right. You are so much more a feminist than all these emotional women.

[davenav]

All I know is -- Dowd did get emotionally involved in her columns in a way that I found distasteful. She obviously was an Obama supporter way back and helped him immeasurably by spreading the kind of hate-filled invectives that were formerly the province of the right-wing.

Honestly, I like her but I wish she could have been more objective and unbiased.

[walk0nwalls]

You know the sooner you Boomers die off the sooner we Third Waves can take the title back from your cold, miserable, shriveling hands and restore some luster to the broken ideology you've manipulated to your base ends.

[davenav]

Yeah, that's it. Deflect attention from Bush by spewing illogical hatred. Good job, republican hack!

[NTO08]

Maybe the worst things that boomers have done is create little wretches like you...we didn't begrudge our elders THEIR myriad successes.­..fighting off the Nazis, creating some of the greatest art man had seen in centuries, solidifying an American musical genre that was unique and beloved worldwide, and creating films that will endure many times longer than the drivel turned out by your so called third wavers...
Boomers fought for rights and freedoms that your miserable little self indulges in now, like their forebearers did.

[beachpoet]

What's the pwoblem? Mom& Dad won't increase your allowance? Or did you get assigned to the wrong dorm?

[vocalist]

Mama did not raise you right.

[ignrnthllblly]

I thought we elected individuals, not generations. If I am wrong about that, then the exception conferred derives from the condition of history itself at a given time, presumably, rather than the implausible perfection of humanity occasioned by the fact of your birth. In short, you ain't all that.

If, indeed, you and your generation turn out to be products of your own times, it would then seem unlikely that you represent the fulfillment of anything other than belief in your own b.s.

[olivia]

You know, Clinton made all those decisions you are criticizing.

Maybe she's too old to be part of the modern feminist movement. Acting like a man, sending people to die so she would appear tough, attaching odious people like Ferraro and Wasserman-Schultz to her campaign..­. not to mention the awful men hangers-on she chose... all bad decisions of hers.

Those were not shortcomings of feminism. Those were shortcomings of Clinton's judgment.

[pleeezzze]

Then again ,had you "lived " when women were trying to become equal with males ,you would' nt be Sooo cynical of all thing C linton .
If you did live then , you are a disgrace to women everywhere .

As for who she had around her ,you must be joking as you covet O bama and his CRIMINAL Group .

[JimR]

What a load of crap. So if women don't support Clinton, they're not feminists? I suppose you supported Elizabeth Dole's candidacy several years back, right? Because you are so attuned to women's causes and the advancement of women?

[larry91403]

What happened to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. And why don't we expect Presidential candidates (and their supporters) to develop some level of a thick skin. I'm not suggesting the accept out and out racism, sexism, ageism or any other ism but some of this is getting ridiculous and is bordering on repressive.

[MacTheBlogger]

Indeed, "freedom of speech" is but a memory. Our culture revels in its hypersensitivity, and it's getting worse by the day. We're all so eager to be "offended.­" Political Correctness rules the day now, and it's sad to see.

[aicon]

I used to love her columns. I have always been an Edwards first, then Obama supporter, but there is no rationale in Dowd's extremely talented use of language and witty terms to hammer Senator Clinton like that. In the Arena of Politics, Clinton deserves more credit.

Dowd should go back and hammer Cheney and Bush, until she makes up for the fact that she used to support W in 2000.

So, Maureen, get a reality check and by the way.. I think you need to get laid !

[racetoinfinity]

"I think you need to get laid" is sexist as hell (unless you'd just as easily say it to a man).

[walk0nwalls]

I would. Wouldn't you?

[olivia]

It's not sexist. It's just crude and always out of line.

[JimR]

Not sexist. It can be applied to men, too. Crude for sure, though.

[NTO08]

Dowd, as well as so many others, became obsessed about the Clintons in an unnatural way...it showed that she had no life, and was incapable of getting one, like the people who bitch and whine about Hillary and Bill still today.

[jrterrier]

during the clinton impeachment, when she was merciless on hillary, not bill, there was a story going around that dowd has a personal animus against hillary because dowd's friend who helped edit hillary's book "it takes a village" didn't get enough credit for her work.

when someone has a personal bias, they should know enough to stay away from writing about the subject.

[JimR]

That doesn't sound very reliable..­.. "a story going around?"

[MrsPeel]

Lame.

[thebeerdoctor]

Looking at this from a professional writer's viewpoint, some of Ms. Dowd's articles were quite funny, but having to produce them on a regular basis is very difficult. This probably explains how some of the pieces seem to be rather silly, shrill rants, because she had a deadline to meet.
Sometimes she seeks to be clever, to simply show cleverness. Her "insider" erudition often goes unnoticed, which is understandable. Sometimes being a smart ass only appeals to others of the same mindset.

[NTO08]

Funny was in the eye of the beholder..­.imagine if she had written her snide comments about Obama...I doubt if any of his supporters would find that in the least amusing...
Like Keith Olbermann, she was good when slamming Bush...but then the attacks became so petty, so childish, so vindictive, her comments on him became a parody of themselves­...the same happened with her Clinton dissing, as did Keith's...
It seems some commentators don't know when to rein in their excesses.