Hilary Clinton

The article titled "Clinton gets casual on White House decor, Kardashians" made me think of Daniel J. Boorstin's term of "pseudo-events" which are when "events have been structured by organizations for the primary purpose of gaining news attention" (Bell 69). Yesterday, Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton did an interview with an Australian radio show and talked about things such as the decorating of the white house by the Obamas and the Bush's, reality television and eating chips. I think this interview qualifies as a pseudo-event because it meets all four of Boorstin's characteristics which are 1. the event is not spontaneous. Hilary certainly did not call into this radio show, she and her camp scheduled this event. 2. The event occurs primarily for the purpose of gaining news attention; Hilary knew she would create news attention by being on a radio talk show and discussing things other than politics. 3. asking "what does it mean? about the situation is ambiguous; Hilary's interview and answers would certainly have different meanings to many different people. 4. a self-fulfilling prophecy may occur; In the interview Hilary states that she is an "avid eater of chips".
In conclusion, this article is a pseudo-event that was created by Hilary Clinton's camp. "Many events look like news and sound like news, but when we explore further their potential newsworthiness, we may conclude that they are pseudo-events with little purpose beyond media coverage" (Bell 69).