I guess Asner doesn't give a shit anymore. This is a good move by the Admin. Bypass the National media and get better coverage from the local outlets. Guess they are learning from Arnold. What next? Bush on "Entertainment Tonight?" :>) On target money quote: "We believe local media and regional broadcasters are more interested in letting viewers or readers see or hear what the president has to say," said Dan Bartlett, White House communications director. "It's less analytical and more reporting."
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washingtonpost.com
Bush Courts Regional Media
President Aims to Bypass Large News Outlets' 'Filter' on Iraq
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 14, 2003; Page A04
The Bush administration, displeased with the news coverage of the war in Iraq, has accelerated efforts to bypass the national media by telling the administration's story directly to the American public.
Yesterday, Bush granted exclusive interviews to five regional broadcasting companies -- an unprecedented effort to reach news organizations that do not regularly cover the White House.
The effort by Bush to reach out to about 10 million Americans through the regional broadcasters -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer had similar sessions previously -- came two days after it emerged that soldiers in Iraq have sent form letters home to local newspapers asserting that the U.S. troops had been welcomed "with open arms" in Iraq.
Identical letters to the editor from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Infantry Regiment appeared in 11 newspapers across the country, Gannett News Service reported on Saturday. The news service reached six soldiers who said they agreed with the letter but had not written it, one who had not signed the letter, and one who didn't even know about the letter.
Lt. Col. Cindy Scott-Johnson, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said that the form letter was similar to the "hometown news release program" and that the Pentagon had raised no objection "that I know of" to the letter, apparently written by 2nd Battalion staff and distributed to soldiers.
The form letter from the troops, like the Bush interviews with local media outlets, stems from a frustration with the national media and a desire to circumvent what the administration views as unfairly negative coverage of the Iraq conflict.
Bush, in his interviews with the regional broadcasters yesterday, mentioned improvements to Iraq's hospitals and schools. He said that "there's a great deal of consistency" in the administration's actions and "a very clear strategy" while expressing "a sense that people in America aren't getting the truth." In one interview, with Hearst-Argyle, he said, "I'm mindful of the filter through which some news travels, and somehow you just got to go over the heads of the filter and speak directly to the people."
The letters to the editor had a similar theme. "The fruits of all our soldiers' efforts are clearly visible in the streets of Kirkuk today," they said. "There is very little trash in the streets, many more people in the markets and shops, and children have returned to school. I am proud of the work we are doing here in Iraq and I hope all of your readers are as well."
Last week, Bush complained that the news reports out of Iraq emphasize the negative. "We're making good progress in Iraq," he said. "Sometimes it's hard to tell it when you listen to the filter." Speaking Thursday at a fundraiser in Kentucky, Bush said, "We're making great progress -- I don't care what you read about."
Bush aides make no apologies for targeting local media -- which, they say, tend to be less cynical. "We believe local media and regional broadcasters are more interested in letting viewers or readers see or hear what the president has to say," said Dan Bartlett, White House communications director. "It's less analytical and more reporting."
Bartlett said that as "we move to an instant news cycle" dominated by cable news, more Americans are turning to the Internet, radio or local broadcasts and papers for their news. "That's forcing national newspapers, weekly magazines and national broadcasters to become more analytical and provide commentary," he said.
Andrew Kohut, who runs the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, said the White House is correct that viewers tend to trust their local news more than network television, and he said local news has held its own while network news has declined. Coincidentally or not, Bush's public standing has improved. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released yesterday found his support had jumped to 56 percent from 50 percent in September.
But some in the national media say the White House strategy amounts to shopping for softer questioning. "It's much more often the case in doing local or regional interviews that reporters come to the interview at least a bit star-struck, at least a bit less prepared for how to focus the interview on questions and answers in the public interest and a bit more willing to accept what the White House position is on matters of controversy," said Mark Halperin, ABC News political director. Halperin said he intends no slight to regional reporters but that Bush is "more sophisticated" about avoiding the national media "than anybody who has ever held the job."
Presidents for decades have courted regional and specialized media, but the Bush administration has been unusual, according to media experts. Vice President Cheney, who almost never grants newspaper interviews, has been a regular on talk radio and Sunday television shows where his answers are unedited. The White House invited talk radio hosts to set up shop on the North Lawn one day, treating them to a steady stream of administration officials. The White House Web site has hosted dozens of "Ask the White House" chats for the public. And Bush himself has had few news conferences and extended interviews but has made time for specialized outlets such as Runner's World.
The White House Office of Media Affairs deals with about 10,000 regional and specialty outlets, fielding questions from hundreds of radio stations daily. Bush himself has regularly participated in this outreach, giving "roundtable" interviews to regional journalists. Yesterday's interviews were the largest such effort -- he sat for five eight-minute interviews -- and the first time he sat down with all five of the major regional broadcasters.
A White House spokesman said the transcript of Bush's remarks would not be released, following its policy of treating such interviews as the property of the questioners. The matter has not been controversial because regional newspapers often publish the transcripts themselves.
Martha Kumar, a Towson University professor who has studied White House relations with the media, said reaching out to regional media "can give you a temporary lift." But, she added, "I don't know in the long run what it really buys you. The president's problems now are policy problems, not communications problems."
The report yesterday on WBAL in Baltimore, owned by Hearst-Argyle, mixed Bush's words with reminders of the violence in Iraq and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. "The president is trying to paint a brighter picture of Iraq despite the deaths of more U.S. soldiers today and another deadly car bombing over the weekend," the report began.
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