93 C. Reading: The Presidency in the Information Age (48/59) -- American Government

93 C. Reading: The Presidency in the Information Age Learning Objectives After reading this section, you should be able to answer the following questions: - What are the basic purposes of the White House communications operation? - How do presidents interact with the media? - How does the White House press corps interact with the president? - What challenges did President Obama face from the media, and how did he deal with them? - What are the consequences of media coverage for the presidency? The White House communications operation has four basic purposes. - Advocating. Promoting the president’s policies and goals. - Explaining. Providing information, details, answering questions. - Defending. Responding to criticism, unanticipated events, cleaning up after mistakes, and challenging unfair news stories. - Coordinating. Bringing together White House units, governmental agencies (bureaucracies), allies in Congress, and outside supporters (interest groups) to publicize and promote presidential actions.[1] How is the White House organized to go about achieving these purposes? Media Interactions: White House Press Operations Presidents decide whether, when, where, at what length, and under what conditions they will talk to reporters. Most presidential interactions with the media are highly restricted and stage-managed. Press Conferences In the best-known form of press conference, the president appears alone, usually before television cameras, to answer questions on the record from the assembled reporters who can ask anything on their minds for a given period of time (usually up to an hour). Presidents generally hold such press conferences when they need to respond to important issues or mounting criticism—or if they have been accused of avoiding direct questions from the press. Press conferences allow presidents to dominate the news, pay obeisance to or at least acknowledge the importance of a free press, galvanize supporters, and try to placate opponents. Presidents, as much as reporters, control press conferences. They make opening statements. They choose who asks questions—at his first press conference President Obama recognized the presence of the new media by taking a question from a writer for the influential online-only news outlet the Huffington Post. They can recover from a tough question by finding someone to toss them a softball. Follow-up questions are not guaranteed. Presidents can run out the clock, blather on in evasive or convoluted language, and refuse to take or answer questions on a subject.[2] Nonetheless, press conferences have risks for presidents. Since reporters’ questions have become more challenging over time, presidents shy away from press conferences more and more.[3] Increasingly, they rely on joint press conferences, most often with foreign leaders. Such press conferences add questioners from another press corps, limit the number of questions to a handful, and reduce the amount of time for the president to answer questi