Hillary Clinton has nearly an all-women press corps — but that hasn't let her off the hook

As Hillary Clinton jockeys to become the first woman president of the United States, her press corps is already making history. That's because they're primarily women themselves — a role that, on the campaign trail, has long been predominately male. All that's turning around with Clinton's campaign, however, where at least 18 national media outlets have women reporters covering the former secretary of state, Politico reports. Some, such as NBC, have several women on her beat. Local outlets following Clinton, be they radio, print, digital, or TV, are also heavily reported by women.

"In 2008, I was one of the only women in [Clinton's] traveling press corps," Amy Chozick of The New York Times told Politico. "Wow, it was pretty male then. So what's changed?"

Carolyn Ryan, the political editor of The New York Times, has her theory. "One, a younger generation of talented women reporters is coming of age just as Clinton pursues the presidency. Two, while I don't think editors are choosing reporters to cover Clinton because of their gender, women are drawn to this story journalistically, given its sweep, history-making potential, and the way the Clinton story intersects with the broader discussion about gender, power, and culture in this country," Ryan said.

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But that doesn't mean Clinton is off the hook — in fact, earlier this year the liberal research group Media Matters for America described Clinton as "saddled with [...] bad press." "I don't sense any increased empathy or connection, if you will, between the candidate and the press corps because [of the fact] there are so many women," Andrea Mitchell of NBC explained. BuzzFeed's Ruby Cramer agreed. "I think [Clinton] looks at us and sees the press," she said.