Political Scandals in the Modern Media Environment: Applying a New Analytical Framework to Hillary Clinton’s Whitewater and E-Mail Scandals

Authors

  • Diana Zulli Purdue University

Keywords:

political scandals, Hillary Clinton, news reporting, journalism, content analysis

Abstract

Scholars have long been interested in political scandals. Yet many analyses focus on a single scandal to better understand the rhetorical features, responses, or effects. This study takes a different approach by studying how different media environments affect the nature of news reporting during political scandals. To do so, I specify three measurable parameters that detail the shifts from traditional to digital media: interactivity, personalization, and liveness. I use this framework to analyze two Hillary Clinton scandals that occurred in different media environments: Whitewater and the e-mail use scandal. The results indicate somewhat greater interactivity in the modern media era. Journalists are also increasingly personalizing their political scandal interpretations and having less contextualized and in-depth discussions. The implications of these shifts are discussed.

Author Biography

Diana Zulli, Purdue University

Diana Zulli (Ph.D., University of Utah, 2018) is an assistant professor of public relations and political communication in the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University. Her research interests include political discourse, communication theory, and digital technology.

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Published

2020-09-29

Issue

Vol. 14 (2020)

Section

Articles

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