Hello and good morning! I think the above cartoon is what the press room should look like. I’m tired of the media being the punching bag for Sarah Sanders. She lies and does not answer questions she does not like. I know it’s important to shine a light on what this administration is doing, but really what purpose do these briefings serve if you are only going to receive a line of propaganda? The media outlets can send second stringers in there to take notes and leave their star journalists free to do some digging and find out the truth behind the lies. This administration has NO respect for the free press so why should the press respect “tradition”.
Here’s a bit of information on the evolution of White House press coverage:
from Wikipedia:
At the end of the Cleveland administration, a new feature of press coverage of the White House materialized. William W. Price, a southern reporter, auditioned for a job at the Washington Evening Star by stationing himself at the White House to seek out stories.[9] He interviewed guests coming and going from meetings or events with the President and ultimately reported a story in a piece carrying the headline "At the White House".[9] Competitor newspapers responded by sending their own reporters to cover the White House in a daily, sustained way and soon the White House had reporters dedicated to covering the "White House beat." Some point to this as the early origins of a more formal White House Press Corps.[9]
In the 1920s, press conferences became the main form of direct communication between the president and the American people. The post of Press Secretary was actually only established in 1930.
In the 1930s, FDR was the first president to hold long, informal press conferences. These were held in the Oval Office since there was not a formal press briefing room at that time. FDR was also the first president to fully utilized radio addresses as communication to the people.
In the 1940s, President Truman proposed moving the press conferences to a dedicated briefing room. However, Congress did not approve the funding. He did move them out of the Oval Office to the Indian Treaty Room at the State Department (which is now the Eisenhower Executive Office Building).
In the 1950s, President Eisenhower’s press secretary allowed radio and TV recording of his press conferences. However, they were not issued to the public until they were edited by the communications staff.
In the 1960s, JFK became the first president to hold live press briefings. He was very comfortable with the press, however, there was a large amount of preparation that went into these appearances. LBJ actually changed the nature of these press conferences by allowing reporters to ask a few questions.
The press briefing room that is still used today was created in 1969-1970.
Through the 70s and 80s, Presidents Carter, Reagan and Bush continued to make personal changes to press briefings. Carter scheduled bi-monthly meetings with out of town journalists and held monthly press conferences. Reagan preferred to hold his press briefings in the East Room at night. He usually did about 6 per year. Bush Sr. held frequent press conferences in his first 3 years and started the joint session press conferences with visiting heads of state.
The Clinton administration was the first to televise the daily briefings by the Press Secretary. Here’s an interesting piece from the Daily Beast last year talking about that:
How the Televised White House Briefing Was Born
Along with regular press briefings, President Obama was the first to use many of the social media platforms that were developed in the early 2000s.
Now that we have the Twitterer in Chief in the White House …. I’m kind of longing for the days prior to social media.
So, I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of the press briefings from the White House. It’s a rich history but it’s quite sad that today, this administration looks at it as their propaganda arm instead of an information sharing arm. Of course we expect some spin to shine a positive light on the administration, but the out right lying that can be easily debunked is disrespectful of the institution and of the American people.
Now for a few tweets for discussion and a little fun:
Vote, Vote, Vote!
It’s about time!
This would not surprise me one bit:
A little funny from a great author:
Time to go forth and chat! I’ll try to stop in today. I’m still battling my summer cold that seems to want to hang on and is ticking me off!
Have fun!