CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Criticizes The Media’s Frenzy Over Clinton’s Health

Amanpour: “Can't A Girl Have A Sick Day?”

Written by Cat Duffy

Published

CNN’s chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour criticized the media for “having a field day” with their coverage of Hillary Clinton falling ill during a Sept. 11 memorial and her subsequent disclosure of a pneumonia diagnosis.

On September 11, Hillary Clinton left a 9/11 memorial service at Ground Zero in New York City after becoming ill. After disclosing her diagnosis of pneumonia, Clinton’s doctor explained that she left the event after she “became overheated and dehydrated,” but after some rest, Clinton said she was “feeling fine.”

Right-wing media immediately seized on the episode with Matt Drudge questioning whether or not Clinton will survive, Rush Limbaugh speculating that she had a seizure, and Fox host Brian Kilmeade claiming that Clinton could be replaced as the Democratic nominee.

Media across the political spectrum immediately claimed that the incident vindicated the Clinton health conspiracy theories that have become staples of fringe outlets. Coverage by CNN has been particularly problematic, as the network questioned whether it was “plausible” that Clinton’s “apparent collapse” was caused by pneumonia, insinuated that Clinton’s 2012 concussion might have “caused some sort of brain thing,” and hosted doctors who baselessly speculated on Clinton’s condition.

During the September 12 edition of CNN International’s Amanpour, Amanpour highlighted the sexist nature of the media’s coverage of Clinton’s health, asking “Can’t a girl have a sick day or two” and denounced the way in which “overqualified women hav[e] to try a hundred times harder than unqualified men to get a break or even a level playing field”:

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR (HOST): But surely this can’t be a case of a human being having an off day. Nope like so many things Hillary, the media are having a field day, off to the races with another debilitating case of indignant outrage. This must be another typical Clinton conspiracy to fool them with a total transparency break down. Talk about a transparency break down, what about Donald Trump’s tax returns - where are they? Can’t a girl have a sick day or two? Don’t get me started because when it comes to overqualified women having to try a hundred times harder than unqualified men to get a break or even a level playing field, well, we know that story.