The Obama White House and the Press

[Decus]

If you only read one report this year this should be it. The Obama White House is one of the most disciplined and able in US history. You may be surprised however to learn how this ability is used.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/201...al-Politics/Graphics/CPJ-ObamaAndThePress.pdf

Here is an excerpt from the report published a couple of weeks ago:

"The government websites turned out to be part of a strategy, honed during Obama’s presidential campaign, to use the Internet to dispense to the public large amounts of favorable information and images generated by his administration, while limiting its exposure to probing by the press. Veteran political journalists Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen described the administration’s message machine this way on the news website Politico: “One authentically new technique pioneered by the Obama White House is government creation of content—photos of the president, videos of White House officials, blog posts written by Obama aides—which can then be instantly released to the masses through social media. And they are obsessed with taking advantage of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and every other social media forum, not just for campaigning, but governing. They are more disciplined about cracking down on staff that leak, or reporters who write things they don’t like.”"

 

[Decus]

Here is another disturbing fact that comes out of the report:

"“There is no access to the daily business in the Oval Office, who the president meets with, who he gets advice from,” said ABC News White House correspondent Ann Compton, who has been covering presidents since Gerald Ford. She said many of Obama’s important meetings with major figures from outside the administration on issues like health care, immigration, or the economy are not even listed on Obama’s public schedule. This makes it more difficult for the news media to inform citizens about how the president makes decisions and who is influencing them."

You have to wonder why this is being done.

 

[Decus]

Keep in mind:

"Obama, who during the 2008 campaign had criticized the “excessive secrecy” of the Bush administration, came into the Oval Office promising an unprecedentedly open government."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/201...al-Politics/Graphics/CPJ-ObamaAndThePress.pdf

 

[Decus]

It would seem that Obama has not lived up to his promise of transparency:

"“In the past,” Compton told me, “we would often be called into the Roosevelt Room at the beginning of meetings to hear the president’s opening remarks and see who’s in the meeting, and then we could talk to some of them outside on the driveway afterward. This president has wiped all that coverage off the map. He’s the least transparent of the seven presidents I’ve covered in terms of how he does his daily business.”"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/201...al-Politics/Graphics/CPJ-ObamaAndThePress.pdf

 

[Decus]

This can only be described as carefully crafted and managed propoganda:

"Instead of providing greater access for reporting by knowledgeable members of the press, Compton noted, the Obama White House produces its own short newscast, “West Wing Week,” which it posts on the White House website. “It’s five minutes of their own video and sound from events the press didn’t even know about,” she said."

"“When you call the White House press office to ask a question or seek information, they refer us to White House websites,” said Chris Schlemon, Washington producer for Britain’s Channel 4 television news network. “We have to use White House website content, White House videos of the president’s interviews with local television stations and White House photographs of the president."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/201...al-Politics/Graphics/CPJ-ObamaAndThePress.pdf

 

[Rozman]

I am still trying to figure out his use of "people props"...
He surrounds himself with people who stand around and nod approvingly or just break out in applause
as if on cue at certain points of the speech.

 

[Decus]

I am still trying to figure out his use of "people props"...
He surrounds himself with people who stand around and nod approvingly or just break out in applause as if on cue at certain points of the speech.

I would call it stage craft. The visual part of the image is so important that no detail is overlooked. From selection of the audience, speakers and even camera angle, everything is done to craft the image of Obama as a statesman. The reality is entirely different and the reason Obama seems to run from closer scrutiny.

 

[Decus]

Regarding the creation of an image around Obama you have this:

""If you were to create the perfect American family in the laboratory, the Obamas would be it," said Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. "That whole family is the model of perfect, young, forward-thinking, good-looking Americans.""

"The president, who is known to have a passion for basketball, now also plays golf in his free time, and more recently, tennis. The first lady, who initially attracted attention for her outspoken comments and bare-shouldered outfits, grows vegetables in a backyard garden."

Obamas' carefully crafted image of ordinariness may be working - Los Angeles Times

 

[Decus]

Crafting the image is easier when you control the flow of information and use new social media:

"All presidents have official photographers. True. But no president before Obama and no presidential photographer before Souza has had access to Flickr, Twitter and the variety of other social networking and sharing sites. Those sites allow any image of the president that the White House wants people to see to be seen, a massive distribution channel simply not available to past presidents."

"And that fact — coupled with the fact that media photographers believe the Obama Administration has been the most restrictive in terms of access in several decades — make Souza’s photos all the more important and impactful."

How Pete Souza became President Obama?s secret weapon

 

[R.C. Christian]

Well, anyone with a functioning brain can see that these people are fake.

 

[ba1614]

I am still trying to figure out his use of "people props"...
He surrounds himself with people who stand around and nod approvingly or just break out in applause
as if on cue at certain points of the speech.

That's what narcissists do, surround themselves with drones who idolize them