“The White House, like others, does its best to manipulate press coverage. Obama’s communications staff, according to Kumar, has swelled to sixty-nine people, from fifty-two under Bush and forty-seven under Clinton. The shop is led by Robert Gibbs, whose office has the most contact with reporters; Dan Pfeiffer, the communications director, who focuses on media strategy; and Jon Favreau, the chief speech writer, who heads a team of six writers.”-Ken Auletta, Non-Stop News
In the passage above, Auletta is explaining the expansion of Obama’s communications team and comparing it to previous presidential communications teams. By doing so, he is adding onto the idea that due to today’s internet communications and rushed media, the presidential campaign has been forced to change drastically, both in size and in the way it operates. I think this passage means that as the years continue, presidents will continue to have to change their campaigns and the way the White House communicates with the media in order to protect themselves and get their stories through to the press and public correctly. That the growing number of communications staff will only keep growing in order to attempt to control the media. By having to do so, to me, it takes away the commanding voice and regalness that presidents once had, which I think will affect presidency all together in a negative way.
This idea is important because the President is questioned, scrutinized, and praised, all in a matter of minutes, and if it’s filed so quickly, without consulting with the experts, who knows what’s truly accurate and what’s rumor? This is significant to the future and value of presidential press, and to Americans being able to trust what they read about the presidential campaign. How can we as Americans be expected to make an educated decision about who our president should be when the press and presidential media doesn't take the time to talk to the experts about which facts are true and which are false?
No comments:
Post a Comment