Press briefings have turned into a TV show

“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,” Ari Fleischer, President Bush’s first press secretary, wrote in The Washington Post. “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.”
Fleischer said that the briefing participants mostly talk past one another, with reporters playing it up for the cameras and the spokesman trying hard not to say something that he doesn’t want repeatedly endlessly on cable news shows. Fleischer said the more substantive briefings occur in smaller groups when the cameras aren’t rolling.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

4 Comments

  1. Joe Williams
    Posted April 28, 2006 at 7:29 am | Permalink

    With the introduction of more cable news channels in the 1990’s, the press has been very interested in televising, sometimes in its entirity, the briefings.

    It’s here to stay. I’ve heard testimonials from the press corp on what it was like in the 70’s and 80’s. They said it was very different. More of listening and few questions ask. But now that it is a show, there is less listening and more questions.

  2. steve
    Posted April 28, 2006 at 9:36 am | Permalink

    Maybe there was more listening because they actually told them something.

  3. Ed Friedemann
    Posted April 28, 2006 at 11:42 am | Permalink

    Musharraf: ‘I’m nobody’s poodle.’

    Pakistan leader says US air-strikes infringe Pakistan’s sovereignty.

    Musharraf:

    “When you are talking about fighting terrorism or extremism, I’m not doing that for the US or Britain. I’m doing it for Pakistan,” he said. “It’s not a question of being a poodle. I’m nobody’s poodle. I have enough strength of my own to lead.”If necessary he had “teeth” to bite back, he added. “Yes sir, I personally do. A lot of teeth. Sometimes the teeth do not have to be shown. Pragmatism is required in international relations.”

    Pakistan, Iran’s next door neighbor has a complete arsenal of Atomic Bombs along the missiles and Aircraft to deliver them.

    That flap-mouthed Condoleeza Rice an Brainless Bush are determined to start an Atomic War.

    http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0428/dailyUpdate.html

  4. Ed Friedemann
    Posted April 29, 2006 at 10:50 am | Permalink

    Hopefully, on the soon to be erected Palestinian Holocaust Museum, hanging on one very long wall will be bottles of blood.

    Forty million liters of Palestinian blood had to be spilled in order for the Zionists to form their precious Israel. Few, if any, Americans have any idea about the carnage and massacres that the Zionists inflicted on the Palestinians over the past sixty years.

    American newspapers won’t print it,

    American magazines won’t publish it,

    American TV won’t dramatize it,

    American radio won’t talk about it,

    American schools won’t teach it,

    and the American government acts like it never happened.

    If the good American people ever became aware of what actually happen, what actually took place to the Palestinian people, Israel would be where it belongs; at the top of the “terrorist” countries’ list, and not receive one more dime of American taxpayer money.

    Ed Friedemann, USA

    If the good American people ever became aware of what actually happen, what actually took place to the Palestinian people, Israel would be where it belongs; at the top of the “terrorist” countries’ list.

    Ed Friedemann, US

    http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E58969E2-F122-4ACE-BA32-46DD784810F9.htm