“*Authenticity will always be deconstructed. Politics are messy and candidates are flawed, but that does not mean we still can’t look up to them.*”
- Shawn Parry-Giles, professor of communications at the University of Maryland

Shawn Parry-Giles, author and professor of communications at the University of Maryland, was critical of the way in which the news media has covered presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, accusing the media of warping our perceptions of who candidates are, and sexualizing women in politics.

The presentation, entitled “Mediating Hillary Clinton: The news media as arbiters of political authenticity,” emphasized the tendency of the media to systematically break down political candidates and perpetuate their flaws. More specifically, the media is simply too preoccupied with portraying image, shaping the way in which we view candidates.

“Journalists continually try to break down authenticity in search for that ‘gotcha!’ moment,” said Parry-Giles.

She continued by attacking the very idea of political authenticity, questioning the way in which politicians are framed by the media to fit an image, essentially shaping judgment as to who is authentic, and who is not.

“The media can’t tell us who these people are because they don’t know,” said Parry-Giles.

Parry-Giles argues that Clinton has been especially hard hit by the media, dogged by the idea that she lacks authenticity, and painted as trying too hard to be masculine.

“Hillary was originally portrayed as the personification of radical feminism,” said Parry-Giles, harkening back to her image as an active and outspoken first lady in the early 1990’s. “Now she is perceived as too masculine.”

Parry-Giles became particularly interested in researching Clinton during her husband’s successful run to the White House in 1992, noting that she was a polarizing political figure even then.

“It just made me wonder, why do people hate Hillary as much as they do? Why is she such a lightning rod?” said Parry-Giles.

She contrasts media coverage of Clinton with that of her democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama. She stated that Obama has yet to be seriously assailed for lacking authenticity, but added that if he wins the nomination, he will be exposed in the primary election.

“Authenticity will always be deconstructed. Politics are messy and candidates are flawed, but that does not mean we still can’t look up to them,” said Parry-Giles.

She argued in general terms that the media tends to feminize Democratic candidates while portraying Republicans as unintelligent simpletons.

Parry-Giles was also highly critical of what she calls the sexualization of women in politics. She cited clips involving political pundits imploring challenger Rudy Giuliani to “hit her in the face” as a metaphorical debate strategy during Clinton’s New York senatorial race, and emphasized the point with the more recent example of a political strategist stating that the Clintons were “pimping out” their daughter Chelsea to superdelegates as she traveled the country in support of her mother’s campaign.

“As soon as Chelsea stepped out into the public sphere, she was sexualized by the media,” she said.

Parry-Giles contends that much of the questionable language and venom directed at Clinton is gender-related, and that the negative media coverage of her candidacy is a byproduct of a woman attempting to succeed in a male-dominated profession.

In spite of her disappointment with some of the media coverage, Parry-Giles is hopeful that even if Clinton is unsuccessful in her presidential bid, she will have made things easier for the next woman that chooses to make a White House run.

“She has had to deal with a lot of things that most male candidates don’t,” said Parry-Giles. “It’s hard to believe she has gotten as far as she has.”

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