Salon Newsreal | A joke too bad to print? - The Diigo Meta page

• 13 Jun 09
  

  S S

  politics

• 01 Dec 08
  

  laurastar

  old school interwebz

• 01 Sep 08
  

  Peyton Stafford

  media politics 2008 hate_speech women mccain journalism joke feminism Delicious

• 31 Aug 08
  

  Robert Katz

  mccain's crude joke

• 22 Aug 08
  

  endolith -

  "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
  Because her father is Janet Reno."

  politics delicious-import

• 10 Aug 08
  

  nyt625 Maroldo

  john mccain and chelsea clinton

  mccain gaff chelsea

• 16 Jun 08
  

  Julia Lesage

  McCain made a terrible joke that newspapers would not print. It should let all women know where he stands on gender issues: " "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."

  feminism journalism news politics women

• 29 Feb 08
  

  journalism media women mccain politics election for:snbeach50

• 21 Jul 06
  

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  Media John McCain

  • But this new standard in the practice of journalism seemingly does not extend to other political figures, at least not media darlings like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Earlier this month, at a Republican Senate fund-raiser, McCain told a downright nasty joke making fun of Janet Reno, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton.  The fact that McCain had made the tasteless joke was reported in major newspapers, as was the vain attempt by his press secretary to initially deny what McCain had done. But in several major newspapers, the joke itself was kept a secret. When McCain subsequently apologized to President Clinton, the Washington Post, in its personality section, noted the apology but said the joke "was too vicious to print."  The Los Angeles Times, in its Life & Style section, provided an oblique rendering of the joke that did not fully convey its ugliness. When Maureen Dowd penned a column in the New York Times about the joke, she wrote that McCain "is so revered by the press that his disgusting jape was largely nudged under the rug." But Dowd chose not to relay the joke, either.  The joke did appear in McCain's hometown paper, the Arizona Republic, and the Associated Press did report the joke in full, so everyone in the press had access to McCain's words. But by censoring themselves, the Post, the Times and others helped McCain deflect flak and preserved his status as a Republican presidential contender.

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