White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs just tweeted about a new initiative to communicate with voters without a press filter, by inviting Twitter users to ask him their own question and jump ahead of the Associated Press’s correspondent who traditionally goes first at each White House press briefing:
Something new: You take first crack. Use #1q in a q & I’ll answer 1 on vid before today’s briefing. What do you want to know?
Gibbs doesn’t make it clear if he plans to post one of these videos each day. Even if that’s the case, this is would not be drastic development—Gibbs and other senior White House staffers have frequently answered questions by video posed by average citizens using social media. And that’s great, for all the obvious reasons.
But there’s a certain symbolism here: this time, non-reporters are being invited to take the “first crack” ahead of the daily briefing, the admittedly-problematic opportunity to question the administration on the record which is of totemic importance to White House correspondents.
Getting too bent out of shape out this would be self-important turf protection. But with each new initiative that opens a new channel between the public and their president, it’s worthwhile to at least keep in mind how it opens new abilities for the president to issue his message without risk of challenge.
Gibbs and his staff will choose the question they are answering from a buffet of those offered up by hashtag, and can pick to match their preferred message of the day. They will have time to script their response. And the questioner will have no opportunity for follow-up.
And while there is of course a difference between a question before a briefing and the first question at a briefing, the Gibbs tweet seems to set up this P.R. exercise as part of the briefing process.
It’s not a bad thing. But it’s definitely not the same thing.
I think it's commendable of the WH to reach out like this, bypassing the beltway insider bubble to hear the questions that real people have.
If you look at Gibbs' first effort, you will see that the question was on the reasons for the India trip. The inside-the-beltway crowd kind of skipped that part and went right into "reporting" -- let's call it gossiping -- about the headwear thing. So the majority of news consumers know about the headwear thing, in a negative way, but has no clue on why the President is traveling to India. Speaking of the chance for the self-important WHPC to "follow up," here are some of the questions White House reporters came up with:
" Q Okay. I also wanted to make one more run at a question that came up a few days ago to you, Robert, about whether -- what was the specific reason why the President opted not go to the Golden Temple, which was something that was in his tentative plans? Was it because he would have to cover his head and the concerns about him being perceived as Muslim --"
and another:
"Q Just another question on messaging. One of the lines we hear from the President on the stump now is when he’s talking about the Republican tax plan, saying that it’s going to cost $700 billion over 10 years and they would cut 20 percent of education funding, and India is not cutting education funding and China is not, either. So how does he reconcile that message and then go to India and try and form this partnership and --"
and then:
" Q Sure. There have been, as there always will be, critics who’ve tried to make a big deal out of the fact that the President has booked the entire hotel. And I was wondering if you’d speak to the necessity of that, and also the benefits derived from it?"
I would note that these questions were taken from the briefing on the India trip.
Press Gaggle on the President's Upcoming Trip to India | The White House
Headwear, Perceived as a Muslim. Too many people in a hotel. Someone squeezed in the Republican tax plan talking points. Pretty worthless stuff, insider stuff, and instead of actual reporting, these topics are completely driven by cable news fodder and the GOP attack machine.
So, before these worthless drama queens in the WHPC whine about there being no one having the "opportunity for followup" as you put it, Clint, they don't even report on the basic, substantive question. Instead, they immediately cut to the vacuous, inside-baseball cable gossip. Totally, utterly worthless group of people. They should go get a real job.
#1 Posted by James, CJR on Fri 29 Oct 2010 at 08:51 AM