Tuesday, November 15, 2016
journalism
My first professional job after college was as a general assignment reporter for a weekly newspaper in Pittsburgh. This was during the Nixon administration.
What people were never told about Nixon was how he suppressed information by limiting the news that came out of the White House.
He cut the size of the press room. He limited the papers who could attend his infrequent press conferences and he actually "gave out" questions to be asked at he press conference and assigned specific reporters to ask them. I know it looked like he was selecting reporters when they raised their hands during a press conference, but it was a ruse. His selections were predetermined.
What if a "selected" reporter asked more than the question he was permitted to ask? In other words, if the reporter went "off script?" Easy, not only was He/his press credentials revoked but the paper or news bureau he represented was barred from all future White House briefings.
Why am I bringing this up? Well let's just say that the new president will most likely do some similar weeding of the press corps. Will the public ever find out? Only if someone who is not a journalist leaks the information via social media. So expect a lot of Fox news and conservative voices coming from the press corps, that is, if the new president even allows press conferences during his term in office.
What people were never told about Nixon was how he suppressed information by limiting the news that came out of the White House.
He cut the size of the press room. He limited the papers who could attend his infrequent press conferences and he actually "gave out" questions to be asked at he press conference and assigned specific reporters to ask them. I know it looked like he was selecting reporters when they raised their hands during a press conference, but it was a ruse. His selections were predetermined.
What if a "selected" reporter asked more than the question he was permitted to ask? In other words, if the reporter went "off script?" Easy, not only was He/his press credentials revoked but the paper or news bureau he represented was barred from all future White House briefings.
Why am I bringing this up? Well let's just say that the new president will most likely do some similar weeding of the press corps. Will the public ever find out? Only if someone who is not a journalist leaks the information via social media. So expect a lot of Fox news and conservative voices coming from the press corps, that is, if the new president even allows press conferences during his term in office.
