Bush administration blurs media boundary - CSM

[TacticalPeek]

from the February 17, 2005 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0217/p01s01-uspo.html

Bush administration blurs media boundary

Controversy over a 'journalist' adds to the buzz about message control in capital.

By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON - First came video "news releases" produced by the Bush administration using a TV news format. Then came three conservative columnists who got big paychecks from federal agencies. Now, there's Jeff Gannon (not his real name), a journalist (maybe) who gained surprisingly easy access to the president, only to lob a sympathetically slanted question.

No evidence has surfaced that Mr. Gannon was directed by the White House, but the circumstances ignited a debate over the inner workings of the White House press room.

Presidents from George Washington on down have struggled with a news corps viewed as hostile. And in the age of television, the art of message management has been increasingly vital to the modern presidency.

But taken together, these recent controversies suggest that the Bush administration may be pushing that craft into new territory - and testing the limits of presidential public relations.

"The public has a reason to be concerned about the ways in which political manipulation is influencing journalism," says Larry Gross at the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California.

more
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0217/p01s01-uspo.htm

[Bluebear]

1. Excellent!!!

Great find TP!

[TacticalPeek]

2. Is that a snowball I smell?

:evilgrin:

[Bluebear]

3. or the drip drip drip of, what, coffee? A faucet? A dam unleashing?

I posted a link in GD over here, GREAT to see mainstream media picking this up.

[bling bling]

4. This is great.

I subscribed to the CS Monitor a few weeks ago. The election may be over but I still vote with my dollars every single day. I BOYCOTT the MSM (or whatever you want to call it) and support the news agencies who refuse to fight for space on Bush's lap.

[ultraist]

5. Blurs the boundary? I'd say they've clearly crossed the boundary

But, more press on this is good but I'd rather not hear too much whitewashing.

[alittlelark]

7. They are so far past the boundary that

they are out-of-bounds, (of reason/rationality/legality).

[EFerrari]

14. Boundaries? What boundaries?!

Maybe this will be remembered as the reality checking White House?

[gumby]

6. The Annenberg School of Communications Sucks.

Just wanted to say that...

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Dean, Annenberg, School for Communication and favorite talking head seems to go out of her way to present a phony "both sides do it" commentary.

Limbaugh also quotes a "study" they did that said Dittoheads are more informed than the rest of us. ACK.

[Kerrytravelers]

9. Annenberg School of Communications at University of Southern California

is where I earned my undergrad in journalism... of course, Geoffery Cowen was dean back then and things were much different. They told us if we really wanted to be journalists, we shouldn't even bother with the MSM, but instead report for the foreign press and/or independent media.

Now, I hang my head in shame.

[Dr Fate]

8. Bush pays the media to lie for him.

n/t

[Erika]

10. I'm curious

Jeff is a right wing whore and porn figure. Scotty was very nice to him. But how is he now sustaining a living? Rove's back pocket?

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. Actually, I believe "Gannon" is an agent

Several others at DU think so too. It makes a lot of sense. See some of the posts with these speculations partway through this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=307x49

[Cooley Hurd]

12. I wish CSM would start a cable news network...

A very credible news source (my ex-girlfriend worked for them).

[Supersedeas]

23. Oil money influences political mechanism which influence journalism

Unlikely that CSM will get a cable gig.

[JoFerret]

25. True enough, however...

True enough, however...Christian Science is a most unfortunate part of the name and connection.

[UL_Approved]

13. It is getting some recognition from the outer reaches of journalism

The story is starting to balloon.

Here is a thought:

After the 60 Minutes II story went sour, wouldn't it make sense that most news organizations are going to be afraid of pushing the limit, especially when something directly involves Bush?

I would think that the less mainstream news organizations would be a testing ground to see if the Bush administration is going to scrub the article. The MSM is scared after the Rather incident, but this is huge. They MSM needs absolutely solid leads and facts in order to proceed with this story. We have to get in the mode here, too, of making sure that our leads are solid.

Even though the DU is a discussion/venting site, we still can work on real news. After all, the FR gets information dug up, so should we. And dig we will, to wherever this goes...

[Ian David]

22. You don't need evidence if you have the right.... inflection

Let's talk about it for eight weeks and let the public decide.

[Supersedeas]

26. this is really an integrity issue...not just for the 'outer reaches' crowd

[leftchick]

15. "the public won't mind"!!! Sickening...

"Over the past several years, the Bush administration has learned that it can engage the press in an adversarial way, and the public won't mind. It's yet another step in managed news," says Tom Hollihan, another journalism expert at USC's Annenberg School.


The REASON the public "doesn't mind" is because fully 2/3 of the public is not aware of WTF is going on, because this shit, All of it, DOESN"T GET THE COVERAGE IT IS DUE!

[Eloriel]

20. Managed news isn't the half of it --

Managed news for Managed Democracy

"Bush and the Rise of Managed Democracy" chilling article by Parry.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3114682
Link: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/021205.html

[deacon]

16. MSM and Bush-co need to re-read the constitution n/t

[TacticalPeek]

17. Kick.

:kick:

[Spazito]

18. The 'Gannon' scandal is growing legs,

long, long legs. Two blistering op/eds in the NYT, Court TV, the awesome coverage on the Daily Show.

This isn't going away, much to the WH's dismay.

[peacebird]

19. Today show also, and CSM -

Let's hope this one gets MSM's attention - hell, it has everything MSM could want.

Scandal laced with illicit sex... Racy photos on the internet... The verbal imagery they can use instead... Just to have a gay prostitute in the White House press corp - one who got special daily passes because he couldn't qualify for a regular pass? Come on - MSM just HAS to be all over this.

If only because the career press corp are likely furious at being treated so shabbily for four years and come to find this whore was getting called on when they weren't...

[Zeke]

21. ????????????

Did a single reporter aska a single
Gannon question of Bush this morning?

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

24. The Noose...

At the time of the Williams (et. al.) story, the White House denied any knowledge that federal agencies were paying journalists for favorable coverage. But Gannon/Guckert was cleared to cover the White House. They don't have any plausible deniability here -- they can't claim it was a "rogue operation" by some anonymous agency. And Gannon/Guckert was still getting White House access after the Williams story broke. If we had an independent media, this would be the noose into which this administration has inadvertently stuck its neck.

But we don't have an independent media. If we did, one of them would have questioned -- possibly two years ago -- the fact that a representative from an unknown internet site was getting regular access to the White House Press Room and getting called on the ask questions on a regular basis. If we had an independent media, they would have done what a legion of bloggers have done during the past ten days.

[goodhue]

27. Picked up by Yahoo . . .

This CSM story has been picked up by yahoo. Rate it here:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/csm/20050217/ts_csm/ajourno_1