[Mb-civic] Showtime at the White House - Ari Fleischer - Washington Post Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

Showtime at the White House
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By Ari Fleischer
The Washington Post
Thursday, April 27, 2006; A27

The Washington press corps -- working in an industry that's been 
transformed by talk radio, 24-hour cable news and the Internet -- still 
views the White House briefing room as it was back in the 1950s -- or 
the '60s, '70s, '80s or even early '90s. Despite dramatic changes forged 
by live coverage and instant analysis, the press fondly adheres to the 
notion that the briefing can be conducted the way it used to be.

But as Tony Snow, the new White House press secretary, will soon 
discover, the briefing is no longer a briefing, it's a TV show.

Gone are the days when this daily session was a serious affair, with 
mostly serious questions asked and mostly serious answers given. 
Instead, the public is now treated to a spectacle in which the media do 
their best to pressure the White House, regardless of which party is in 
power, into admitting that much of what the president is doing is wrong, 
and the White House pushes back. The two sides talk past each other, and 
the viewing public gets to watch a good fight.

Before 24-hour cable news and the Internet, reporters at the briefings 
asked tough questions and generally received straight answers. Because 
the quantity of coverage was limited and the quality was driven by the 
next day's newspapers and the 6:30 evening news, with major figures such 
as Walter Cronkite delivering it, press secretaries didn't have to worry 
that their every word or thought would instantly be reported live on the 
North Lawn of the White House.

There was only one news cycle, and it lasted about 24 hours. Today 
there's no telling when a news cycle begins and ends. It's 24 hours a 
day, and reporters are under constant pressure from editors to update 
their stories a dozen times a day. Reporters are in endless pursuit of 
"the latest development" or "this just in," even if there are no 
developments of late or even if what's "just in" is barely news at all.

Press secretaries realize that their audience isn't only the couple of 
dozen reporters in the room. It's also the hundreds of thousands of 
people who tune in to watch, giving the press secretary a forum to "get 
out the message."

Not so long ago, when Marlin Fitzwater was press secretary to the first 
President Bush, TV cameras weren't permitted to cover the briefing live. 
One of President Bill Clinton's press secretaries, Mike McCurry, in an 
effort to accommodate the new 24-hour-a-day cable news programs, allowed 
his briefings to be open to TV coverage. Poor Mike. The first briefing 
the press covered live was on the day the Monica Lewinsky story broke. 
Since then the briefing room has never been the same.

In addition to the televised session, I used to brief the press every 
morning in something called "the gaggle." It was on the record, but no 
TV cameras were allowed. The gaggle was more informative and serious 
than the briefing. Reporters didn't posture as much for their colleagues 
and editors, since their reporting wasn't on the air. If I ducked a 
question at the gaggle -- such as the ones I was asked immediately after 
Sept. 11, 2001, about whether a military strike was "coming within 
hours, days, weeks or months" (I was asked that actual question) -- the 
reporters didn't attempt to ask me the same thing 17 different ways, as 
they did at the televised briefing. They got the point: The White House 
wasn't answering.

Of course, the reporters aren't the only ones who behave differently 
before the cameras. I acted differently, too. At the televised briefing 
I would sometimes lean into the podium, raise my hand and do my best to 
deliver a sound bite for the evening news. I liked mixing it up with 
reporters. I enjoyed a good intellectual televised argument. But the 
briefing always had an air of theater to it -- on both sides of the 
podium. It was easier to give thoughtful explanations of controversial 
issues at the gaggle or during the numerous times a day reporters 
strolled into my office to talk with me.

It may not be the briefing it once was, but it is still an important show.

The writer was President Bush's press secretary from January 2001 to 
July 2003.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/26/AR2006042602352.html
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