Mediating Hillary Rodham Clinton: Television news practices and image‐making in the postmodern age

Abstract

Image‐making represents a complex process that is often linked to actions of political candidates, their political enemies, and the media's reliance on stereotypical constructions. This essay expands the examination of image‐making beyond the traditional foci and delineates the production practices of television news in the image‐making process. Using First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton as a case study, the essay evidences the significance of stereotypes, visual deconstruction and reconstruction, close‐up shots and spectator positioning, as well as news recycling and repetition to image‐making. In the end, such television newsmaking strategies in the postmodern political context help reify a mediated collective memory of Hillary Rodham Clinton, which is reductionistic, iconic, hyperreal, and emblematic of television news coverage concerning political women. In the process, the role of the journalist‐turned‐historian is simultaneously legitimized and naturalized.