Hooray, Chelsea Clinton!

Chelsea Clinton

Apparently the hiring of a certain first daughter as correspondent has ruffled feathers among professional journalists, as the Los Angeles Times reports in Chelsea Clinton on NBC: When media hire from political families.  Was she hired on merit or as gimmick? Perhaps both. She’s got the tools that the profession looks for: smart, articulate and educated. Then why not take advantage of her household name and face? If she in fact can parlay her talent into genuine, on-the-spot performance, then congratulations to NBC for a bold move and hooray for Clinton!

Moreover, consider this from the Times:

Judy Muller, a one-time ABC correspondent who now teaches at USC‘s Annenberg School for Communication, said it is hard not to see the Clinton hiring as a “gimmick.” She said it would be hard to explain to her students that it sometimes takes more than hard work and persistence to make it to national television.

The US of course was built on the democratic ideals of fairness, justice and equality. Yes, its systems, processes and culture do their level best to realize these ideals. But in actual practice, our day to day life is not always fair or just. In fact, we’re not even all that equal when it comes to talent and opportunities. So, largely by accident and somewhat by design, Clinton happened to be born into and live a life within a famous household. Then she could maximize all that she had at her disposal to nail down a plum job.

Yes, Judy Muller, I imagine it would be hard to explain this to your students. But I think the more important lesson that you can teach them isn’t necessarily to rationalize, positively or negatively, Clinton’s hiring. Rather, it is to help them reconcile the tensions between the ideals and the realities of democratic life.

Note: I wrote this article on November 15th 2011 for an old Media & Tech blog.