For decades the White House press has served the American public as the source for news from the nation’s highest office. But the emergence of powerful social media tools, such as Twitter and Facebook, allow the White House to bypass the established channels and go directly to the people. Further, at the same time, unprecedented attacks of the press by President Donald Trump has eroded public trust in the press. While the White House press has had to adapt to technological changes in the past, and it has endured criticism from many presidents, never before has it been this seriously threatened. The convergence of these factors raises the question: “Is the White House press obsolete?”
From America’s
earliest days there has been a tension between the president and the
press. President George Washington, who was
often angered by the bad press he received, complained of being "buffeted
in the public prints by a set of infamous scribblers.” [1] In his second
term, President Thomas Jefferson instructed state attorneys general in New
England to prosecute newspaper editors for sedition in response to harsh
criticism he had received. He later
wrote a friend, “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in
a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted
vehicle.”[2]
But newspapers were the only source of news and information
about the presidents for much of America’s history. They were usually highly partisan and biased
in their news coverage and editorial opinions.
In the 1800’s, perhaps no president was more effective in managing his
communications with Americans than Abraham Lincoln. He courted and charmed newspaper editors,
and sometimes leaked information to newspapers. Rather than make a speech or proclamation, or
court reporters that waited outside his White House office, he sent private
letters to newspapers knowing they would be published. Lincoln understood the power of public
opinion, especially during a brutal Civil War.
In 1858, during his debate with Stephen Douglas, Lincoln declared,
“Public sentiment is everything. With
public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.” He continued, “Consequently, he who molds
public sentiment, goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions.”[3]
In the late 1800’s, correspondents stood outside the White House
seeking meetings with the president or interviews with his guests as they
departed. Toward the end of the century
reporters were allowed to sit at a table inside the building. Soon they would be allowed to wait in the
front lobby where they would use public pay phones to call in their
stories. From this prime vantage point
they could observe comings and goings, and button hole visitors.
When it comes to covering the president nothing is more
important that access. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to
designate office space for the press, and he would often meet with the press,
and he instituted daily briefings by his secretary.[4] Such an arrangement was mostly beneficial to
both parties. The president wanted to
get information to the public, and the press wanted the latest
information.
The development of radio offered President Franklin D. Roosevelt
an opportunity to speak directly to a mass audience. Roosevelt conducted 28 fireside chats, the
term used to describe the broadcasts, during which he addressed the American
people about his New Deal initiatives and World War II.
President Harry Truman became a media pioneer of sorts when he
delivered the first televised presidential address in October 1947. There were only 40,000 television sets in the
country at the time, but 40 million Americans listened to the address on
radio. In 1948, Truman became the first
presidential candidate to air a paid political ad on television. Nonetheless, most of the White House coverage
came from newspaper beat reporters housed just down the hall in the West Wing.
By 1960 more than 50 million American households had a
television. This fact was not lost on
Senator John Kennedy who would leverage the power of television, as well as his
youth and good looks, to win the 1960 Presidential Election. Kennedy had become the first television
president, and the medium disrupted the status quo in the White House press
area. Television was a mass medium that
provided a forum for presidents to address unfiltered millions of
Americans.
President Richard Nixon authorized the construction of a new
larger pressroom in 1969, which would include space for press briefings,
conferences and press offices. The new
press center was built over an indoor swimming pool located down the hall from
the Oval Office. This was prime West
Wing real estate and would ensure that the press had close access to the
administration’s staff. This became essential during the Watergate
crisis.
The new press center layout featured a podium on the far west
end, nearest the communication staff offices that reporters could visit
throughout the day. Dozens of seats we
placed in front facing the podium. A
platform for cameras was set up behind the seats. Each major news organization had a small
office in the rear of the press center, or one floor below. These offices could each accommodate a couple
of reporters, who filed their reports by phone or, for radio and television, by
microphone.
President Gerald Ford, who had taken over the presidency when
Nixon resigned, found himself on the defensive much of the time, especially
after he pardoned Nixon. Ford considered
reopening the pool and moving the press, but his plans stalled when he received
the cost estimate. President Jimmy
Carter, who defeated Ford in 1976, seemed to be inconvenienced and annoyed by
the press. His one term in office
included a diplomatic success, Egypt and Israel, and many setbacks, oil
shortages, inflation and the Iranian hostage crisis.
President Ronald Reagan won the 1980 election in a
landslide. He was a former television
star and California governor who surrounded himself with a sophisticated
communications team. James Baker, White
House Chief of Staff, and his deputy, Michael Deaver, were masters at managing
the press and the message. Each day the
White House communications team tried to get the press to cover its planned
agenda, in order to drive the news coverage.
They paid close attention to the president’s television image, which
they knew provided the most powerful connection with Americans.
In 1984, The CBS Evening News aired a segment critical of
President Reagan’s budget reported by correspondent Lesley Stahl. The video she used showed Reagan being
presidential. Shortly after the story
aired Stahl called a senior Reagan official.
Expecting he would be angry, she was shocked when he responded
favorably. She asked why. The official responded, "You guys in Televisionland haven't figured it out, have
you? When the pictures are powerful and emotional, they override if not
completely drown out the sound. I mean it, Lesley. Nobody heard you."[5] (I was the CBS Evening News senior Washington producer at the time.)
President Bill Clinton’s press secretary Mike
McCurry began the custom of televising daily press briefings, which were
broadcast live on CNN, the only cable news channel at the time, and by the
networks when there was a major story. The
idea was to get the White House’s spin directly to the people. McCurry would later regret his decision, declaring
in 1998, “It’s performance art and
theater of the absurd.” This was the
height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which nearly cost Clinton his
presidency.
In 2000, President Clinton named the White
House press center the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. Brady was Reagan’s press secretary when he
was severely injured during the attempted assassination of President Reagan in
1981. In 2006-7 the press center was
remodeled and modernized.
As the national press became more powerful,
administrations worked harder to control the message and the president’s
image. The expansion of cable news
channels, and the growing frustration of presidents wanting to get their story
directly to the people, led to an increase in presidential interviews with
local news outlets. This would allow
administrations to bypass national news channels.
The advent of social media provided presidents
with a new channel with which to directly reach Americans. President Barack Obama was tagged the “first
social media president.” While President
Obama used Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, these services were still
relatively new, especially in the early stages of his presidency.
President Donald Trump, who used Twitter
effectively during his campaign, communicates often several times a day with
his 47 million Twitter followers. Trump has generally used Twitter to attack
his opponents, including the mainstream media, which he regularly calls “fake
news.” Even his supporters have criticized
his heavy use of Twitter. But Trump
defends his use of Twitter, for instance, telling the Fox Business Channel in
October 2017, “I doubt I would be here if it weren’t for social media, to be
honest with you.”
Trump’s first press secretary, Sean Spicer,
declared that the president’s tweets were official. “The President is the
President of the United States, so they're considered official statements by
the President of the United States," he told reporters at his daily
briefing in June 2017. He noted that the
president has 110 million followers on social media, adding, “The president is
the most effective messenger of his agenda.”
The president’s extensive use of social media
has redefined how White House reporters cover the White House. The president’s habit of tweeting early in
the morning frequently drives news coverage for the day. White House staff often scrambles to explain
to reporters what the president may have meant by his latest tweet. But Trump knows Twitter gives him an
unfiltered conduit to his followers.
Meanwhile, the daily White House briefing has
become a show targeted at one person, the president. The president watches the daily briefing
carefully and critiques his press secretary.
Many times his spokesperson has attacked reporters, or offered misleading
and false answers to the press. Press secretary Sarah Sanders once had to
admit she was flying without a safety net.
She explained, “I hadn’t had a chance to have a conversation with the
president…I went off the information that I had.”
Media critic and New York University professor
Jay Rosen responded to the deterioration of the daily briefings with the
suggestion that news organizations should send their interns instead of star reporters. In a post on his site, pressthink.org, he explained, “When I say #sendintheinterns I mean
it literally: take a bold decision to put your most junior people in the
briefing room. Recognize that the real
story is elsewhere, and most likely hidden.”
He concluded, “That’s why the experienced news reporters need to be
taken out of the White House, and put on other assignments.”
Many publications, including The New
York Times, The Washington Post and
The Wall Street Journal, have done some of their best reporting on the
Trump White House from what Rosen calls “outside in.” They have assigned reporters to cover and
investigate stories and issues surrounding the presidency with a great deal of
success. Marty Baron, The Washington Post’s executive editor, speaking at
Columbia University in October, said the attacks are having a “corrosive effect
on democracy,” and then observed, “The whole purpose of these attacks is to
destroy our credibility with the American people, but it’s also to intimidate
us.”
But the shear weight of attacks from the
president and his supporters on the press and on Twitter is eroding American’s
confidence in the media according to numerous polls. Facts are being weaponized, news is being
spun, and partisan agendas are being advanced at an alarming rate. Social media is flooding the political
ecosystem with alternate realities, Russian bots and disinformation. President
Trump has fueled this disturbing trend, and he has redefined White House press
coverage in an unprecedented manner. The
old way old way of covering the president has become obsolete.
Marty Baron observed, “Trust in the press and
trust in the presidency is starting to intersect. So in a strange way, Trump has brought us
together.” Baron and many other
journalists are doubling down on the basics of journalism and original
reporting believing it will be validated over the long run. The American press has journeyed a torturous
road throughout this nation’s history.
But this president and these times may be its most difficult
challenge. Hopefully it will again
endure. Thomas Jefferson said, “Our
liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without
being lost.”
[1]
Randall, William Sterne, “George Washington: A Life,” Henry Holt and Company,
New York, New York, 1997, 491
[2]
Jefferson, Thomas, “Jefferson: Political Writings,” Cambridge University Press,
New York, New York, 1999, 275
[3]
Holzer, Harold, “Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public
Opinion,” Simon and Schuster, New York, New York, 2015, XXIX
[4]
Jacobs, James, “The President the Press, and Proximity,” The White House
Historical Association
[5]
Stahl, Lesley, “Reporting Live,” Touchtone, New York, NY, 1999, 236.
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