Hillary Clinton has always had a tenuous relationship with the media. But that didn’t stop her from headlining a journalism awards ceremony Monday night.
“Some of you may be a little surprised to see me here tonight,” Clinton acknowledged. “You know my relationship with the press has been at times, shall we say, complicated.
“I am all about new beginnings. A new grandchild, another new hair style, a new email account...why not a new relationship with the press?” she joked.
Clinton, who is expected to announce she is running for president a second time, spoke at an awards ceremony in memory of the late Robin Toner, the first woman to be the national political correspondent of The New York Times. The Washington Post’s Dan Balz won this year’s award.
Clinton said when she was asked to speak she thought “spending an evening with a room full of political reporters, I thought to myself ‘What could possibly go wrong?’ ”
She spoke for less than 20 minutes, praising Toner, who covered Clinton during her husband’s tenure in the White House, the role of journalism as well as the federal health care law, which celebrated a five-year anniversary today.
“Those of us on the other side are not always going to be happy about whatever it is that you do but we understand in our more rational moments that is your job,”C Clinton told the room. “And we and our democracy depend on you.”
Earlier Monday, Clinton spoke about urban communities for economic fairness and bipartisan cooperation, the themes that are expected to serve as the backbone of her campaign, at the left-leaning Center for American Progress research center.