Are journalists the new trustees of American democracy?

For the first time in a competitive race for the White House, the media is urging a candidate to drop out of the election. Although Clinton trails Obama only by 140 delegates and voters’ anticipation of Obama’s primary win is quickly dropping, many journalists are turning anti-Clinton.

The media is urging Clinton to put aside her ego and drop out of the race. Although many bloggers and Democrats are arguing that this competition is hurting the Democrats in the upcoming general election, most journalists are attacking Clinton for very different reasons.

According to Eric Boehlert, a blogger for MediaMatters.com, the attacking media is acting elitist and has taken on too much of a driving force in the election. Beyond this overstepping of boundaries, journalists are making personal attacks against Clinton rather than the usual policy or strategy attacks.

Attacks are not only being made by lesser known papers, but nationally published publications such as New York Magazine. In John Heilemann’s “Who’ll stop the pain,” he asks “How can Clinton be stopped from putting the party through three more months of hell?” Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter wrote that “The conventional view is that the Clintons approach power the way hard-core gun owners approach a weapon—they'll give it up only when it's wrenched from their cold, dead fingers.” These are not quite the appealing visuals for the possible next president of the United States.

This may not be as shocking if there were cases like this in the past. However, Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson all campaigned through the Democratic Convention with little chance of taking the nomination. Yet none of them were pressured by the media to exit the election at any time, especially in March. It is difficult to say whether this is simply a personal attack against Hillary or if this will be the new style of journalism for elections to come. One thing is for sure though- journalists are taking on the role of trustees of our democracy whether we like it or not.