Hillary Clinton Speaks at Convention, the Press Concocts a Story

The press has portrayed Clinton's planned convention address, as well as the fact that her name is being placed into nomination, as an unprecedented, heavy-handed power grab.

It's not.

In years past, Democratic candidates who won lots of primaries and accumulated hundreds of delegates (Jesse Jackson, Gary Hart, Jerry Brown) have always been allowed to address the convention and very often place their name into nomination. It's the norm. It's expected. It's a formality.

But, boy, in 2008, an awful lot of media outlets have played dumb. When covering the August 14 announcement about Clinton's role in Denver, they miraculously forgot to make any historical reference to similar names-placed-in-nomination at previous conventions.

Read the entire Media Matters column here.