Jay Rosen at Press Think is not part of the Damned Media. Jay Rosen is part of the solution that will wash away the stain the Damned Media has left upon our democratic form of government. As much as anyone I've seen, Jay Rosen is a must read for how we got into the mess we are in today. Should be read by anyone who cares about anything that matters.
Just how staggeringly empty the (White House) beat has been during the Bush era came through in an online chat with Dan Froomkin, White House Briefing columnist for the Washintgton Post. A Post reader said: "I'm interested in the current administration's diversionary phrases, in talking with the press," as in, "our views...are very well known."
Dan Froomkin: Those aren't diversionary phrases. Those are the meaningless words padding the diversionary phrases that punctuate the hoary soundbytes from the approved phrasebook that obfuscate the lack of any substantial response to our questions.
For an example, click here and scroll down to See What You've Been Missing. Froomkin agrees with Lovelady on the pointlessness of sticking around for endless repetition of a "line."
What the press corps needs to do -- and I am wracking my brain on some way to usefully add to the current raging discourse on this very issue -- is dramatically change the current paradigm, which they have tacitly accepted, and which is that they don't get answers -- from Scott, or anyone else in the White House.
One possible solution, which I have repeatedly suggested, is that when they don't get answers, they should report that they didn't get answers.
Good idea. And now we see the significance of this episode during the election campaign, and also what was made of it in the ongoing campaign to discredit the press. Call it a marker, showing what to expect if Froomkin's "possible solution" (a pretty modest step) were ever followed.
He says he is thinking ("wracking" his mind) about what would bring a more dramatic change to the situation. Suggestion for Dan: A simple first step in changing the world is to re-describe it. A columnist (or blogger) is well suited for that.
Dan Weintraub, the political columnist (and blogger) who writes California Insider for the Sacramento Bee, has one way of changing the dynamic. He explained it in the same comment thread a few days ago.
I think the alternative would be an aggressive, curious and analytical press corps, based anywhere (including cyberspace), fact-checking the snot out of the White House and writing critically about the president's statements, proposals and actions, and those of his administration, in both daily coverage and investigative reporting.
In place of a White House presence, Weintraub recommends a simple procedure to ensure fairness, and a voice for the Administration if it chooses that option. "For each story, reporters might place one call to the press office if they chose, explaining what they were inquiring about, and then move on," he said. If the White House does not comment, "so be it."
I like this idea. It has simplicity on its side. When being inside gets you nowhere, you have nothing to lose by developing a more "outside" approach to the beat. If the White House is thinking post-press, (a description I believe accurate) then the press room becomes a space the Administration has already vacated. And that is the sound you hear when Scott McClellan steps to the podium. Instead of venting about the awfulness of the briefing, recognize that the decision to empty it out was made a while ago. Bush already left the marriage.
Recent Comments