Some Sanders supporters have attacked American press coverage of the debate and argued that the corporate media is misrepresenting the outcome because it is in Clinton’s pocket. One way to test that claim is to have a look at how the media in other countries reacted. I haven’t done a thorough, systematic review: this is just a small sample of important newspapers in Russia, Germany, and France. British media is easily accessible to anyone who wants to take a look for themselves. My language skills don’t extend to the Nordic countries, but if anybody has the knowledge, time and desire, I’d love to see what they said.
Most Russian newspapers did not offer an opinion on who won the debate, focusing instead on Clinton’s support for a no-fly zone in Syria, her criticism of Putin, and her condemnation of Snowden. The focus on Clinton (her picture leads most articles, and her positions dominate coverage) implies that the Russian media believe she won. Novaia Gazeta reported on Oct. 16th that “Hilary Clinton … convincingly defeated her opponents.” On Oct. 17th Vzgliad reported that “Hillary Clinton won the first televised debate of the Democratic Party, leaving the rest of her colleagues out of the game.”Ekho Moskvy, the last bastion of free radio in Russia, said little about the debate on its website, though one of its bloggers, Petr Lidov, concluded that “Hilary has no real opposition.”
In Germany, Spiegel Online’s main article claimed that Hilary won easily, partially due to the “appalling weakness of her rivals.”Frankfurter Allgemeine concluded that “Hilary scored against … her main competitor Bernie Sanders.”Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote that “Hilary Clinton dominated the first democratic debate.”Spiegel Online offered a useful summary of coverage in other German newspapers, almost all of which concluded that Hillary won.
Paris Match’s headline loosely translates as “A stroll in the park for Hilary Clinton” (“Promenade de santé pour Hilary Clinton”). Le Monde was less definitive in its headline, “The Democratic Debate: A Victory for Hillary Clinton?” but the article echoed Spiegel, reporting that Clinton “dominated the debate and showed her mastery of the issues” while benefitting “from the weakness of her opponents.”
None of this means much about how the debate will effect primary results in the United States, but it does challenge the notion that the “corporate media” are intentionally skewing the results (unless, of course, Hillary has Novaia Gazetta in her back pocket too!).