CNN Didn't Think Hillary's "Drawl" Was Significant -- Until Matt Drudge Said So.
March 6, 2007 -- 3:49 PM EST // //
Okay, channeling Mark Halperin again, here's some more fodder for the idea that CNN's new slogan should be:
Matt Drudge Rules Our World -- Because We Happily Let Him Do Just That.
Here's the evidence: I've gone back and determined that CNN didn't think the Hillary "drawl" story was at all significant -- that is, until Matt Drudge said it was.
Let me make the case. On Sunday, the day Hillary spoke in Alabama, CNN devoted substantial coverage to her speech. This was a day before Drudge posted his huge banner headline yesterday pointing out her southern drawl, a story that this blog has done its best to debunk.
Interestingly, none of CNN's Sunday coverage even took notice of Hillary's "drawl" at all, as best as I can determine. CNN's Sunday pieces on the speech are here, here, here, and here. Can you find any attention being given to the drawl? I can't. A Nexis search turned up nothing. I can't promise that there was none whatsoever on the air, but it certainly looks as if they didn't take note of it.
At the very least, it's very obvious that the CNN reporters, editors and producers who watched the speech simply didn't think the drawl very noteworthy, if at all. CNN analyst Candy Crowley commented directly on the speech without mentioning it, too.
But that was before CNN assignment editor Matt Drudge issued his call yesterday for coverage of the drawl:
After that, CNN was suddenly all over the drawl. On Monday CNN's Paula Zahn and John Roberts completely followed Drudge's lead, airing the quote out of context exactly as Drudge had done and pointing out what a pandering phony it revealed Hillary to be. CNN's Lou Dobbs -- who on Sunday didn't cover the drawl -- dutifully aired the video of it on Monday. And CNN's Candy Crowley -- who a day earlier had commented on the speech without noting the change in accent -- suddenly had lots to say about it:
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think what this does do is feed to that image that Hillary Clinton is very, very studied, that she does everything with a purpose, and that she makes her message so that it points toward a particular audience. So, that's where the harm is in this.
Yep, on Sunday, Crowley didn't give the drawl even a passing mention. But on Monday, after CNN assignment editor Matt Drudge had made it his lead story, Crowley suddenly thought it was a sign that Hillary is "very, very studied." It doesn't get any clearer than that.
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