Revolt of the Press Corps

[cal04]

The press corps appears to have had about enough of those hokey "Ask President Bush" events. Instead of taking questions from reporters, President Bush has become increasingly partial to playing talk-show host to an audience of sycophantic fans. There were four "Ask President Bush" events last week and in each case, after a long speech and staged interviews with prepped guests, Bush opened the floor to some incredible softballs.

The format allows the president to come off as very smooth.
As John Harris writes in The Washington Post: "In loosening his style, Bush tightened his message. Fielding friendly questions at 'Ask President Bush' forums, or lathering up the crowds at pep rallies like the one here on Saturday afternoon, he presented his case for reelection with a force and fluency that sometimes eluded him at important moments over the past year."

There's never a nasty question, never a heckler, nothing but love. That makes for great imagery and great soundbytes. But now the press is pulling back the curtain. Bill Plante did a long report on the CBS Evening News on Friday, showing video of campaign wranglers trying to pump up the hand-picked crowd.

"The art of TV-friendly political stragecraft reaches new levels in this campaign," Plante says. "This tight control means that hecklers . . . are almost never seen at Bush events. . . .
"At events like these, it's all about getting the message without any distraction, and making sure that there's no public argument to spoil the party."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4943-2004Aug16.html

[PATRICK]

1. Humiliating because

this is how they are training the press conference reporters to behave. If they don't see the mirror of the set piece campaign meetings an image of themselves then it is even funnier and more humiliating that they don't get it. They know then they haven't been invited to create an obvious campaign prop because they are not even as good as the scripted common man plants.

They have been replaced by more talented lapdogs.