Bill Clinton says the media was 'straighter' when he ran in 1992

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Bill Clinton.

• President Bill Clinton said Monday that the press used to be more fair.
• The former president was comparing his 1992 campaign to the 2016 presidential election.
• Both major-party candidates in that race, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, have lamented about the coverage of them, though Trump has made criticizing the media a central tenet of his presidency.

President Bill Clinton said Monday that the media was more fair in its coverage when he first ran for president in 1992 than it was during the 2016 presidential election.

Speaking at Georgetown University at an event commemorating the 25th anniversary of his 1992 electoral victory, Clinton compared what he called a polarized country in 1992 to the polarization seen both last year and presently.

"When I ran in '92, it was rather like 2016, though believe it or not it was pretty polarized then, it was less polarized," than it was during the past election, Clinton said. "And the media was less polarized and a little straighter in the nature of the coverage. But we had income inequality. We had alienation, we had unequal opportunities, and we had a lot of social division."

Clinton's wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

In losing the presidency to President Donald Trump, she has lamented some of the coverage of her campaign and presidential bid. Meanwhile, Trump has consistently bashed the press as "fake news" for stories that paint him and his administration in an unflattering light.

Watch Clinton's comments: