Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Working for the Clampdown?
As we are now almost daily instructed, things are going swimingly in Iraq, and pay no attention to that dead soldier behind the curtain. In fact, things are going so swimmingly that the Administration has apparently decided to declare the war over (again) and shut down what was starting to look like journalism over there: images of dead bodies, wounded lying in hospitals, that kind of thing. All that unpleasantness wasn't really "real", it was just the product of the media "filter," as Dear Leader has been informing the masses during interviews to select--one might say, filtered-- local media outlets. Nope, nothing disturbing to see here, might as well pack up and go home, or stay and cover school openings.
As if.
No doubt the Bushies feel that, on the basis of abundant past experience, the whore press will once again smile at this latest insult. But as they inevitably do, the Thug Right, drunk on its own arrogance, is stupidly overreaching. If history is any guide, they will have the press at their throats in short order. The reason is that the Bushies have forgotten the First Rule of Press Relations: Feed the Beast.
Mark Hertsgaard's unjustly forgotten critique, On Bended Knee, observed that the fundamental insight of the Reaganites was to avoid Nixon's mistake, which was to antaogonize the press. Instead the Reganites realized that they had what the 24/7 press in modern age most craves, namely footage, sound bites, and information. So instead of fighting them, like Nixon did, they plied them with stand-ups, sound bites and managed news. It didn't even matter particularly if the ultimate story was unflattering. The main thing was feeding the beast. Michael Deaver called it "manipulation by inundation."
Clinton in his first term nearly forgot this lesson, and it cost him dearly. Stung by petty press coverage, the Clinton White House retaliated by ending a longstanding perk of White House journalists that allowed them to hang out in the hallway, banishing them to the windowless basement press room; like Bush, he also began holding "town meetings" that eliminated the celebrity press from its jealously guarded role as interlocutor. The result was a frenzy of petulant, negative coverage that dwarfed the earlier, merely bad coverage. Only when the Clintonites restored their perks did semi-favorable press coverage (briefly) resume.
The Bushies seem about to repeat Nixon's and Clinton's missteps. True, Rove has successfully wielded access like a weapon against reporters in the past, but only against individual reporters. Unwilling to hang together, journalists have until now allowed themselves to hang separately. This latest clampdown, circumventing the prestige press as a whole and attempting to cut off its very life blood--which is, largely, bloody images-- is qualitatively different from anything they have tried so far, and one that historically has boomeranged on every Administration that's tried it. If they persist, the Bushies are going to experience a world of hurt.
I say, bring it on. Pass the popcorn.
As if.
No doubt the Bushies feel that, on the basis of abundant past experience, the whore press will once again smile at this latest insult. But as they inevitably do, the Thug Right, drunk on its own arrogance, is stupidly overreaching. If history is any guide, they will have the press at their throats in short order. The reason is that the Bushies have forgotten the First Rule of Press Relations: Feed the Beast.
Mark Hertsgaard's unjustly forgotten critique, On Bended Knee, observed that the fundamental insight of the Reaganites was to avoid Nixon's mistake, which was to antaogonize the press. Instead the Reganites realized that they had what the 24/7 press in modern age most craves, namely footage, sound bites, and information. So instead of fighting them, like Nixon did, they plied them with stand-ups, sound bites and managed news. It didn't even matter particularly if the ultimate story was unflattering. The main thing was feeding the beast. Michael Deaver called it "manipulation by inundation."
Clinton in his first term nearly forgot this lesson, and it cost him dearly. Stung by petty press coverage, the Clinton White House retaliated by ending a longstanding perk of White House journalists that allowed them to hang out in the hallway, banishing them to the windowless basement press room; like Bush, he also began holding "town meetings" that eliminated the celebrity press from its jealously guarded role as interlocutor. The result was a frenzy of petulant, negative coverage that dwarfed the earlier, merely bad coverage. Only when the Clintonites restored their perks did semi-favorable press coverage (briefly) resume.
The Bushies seem about to repeat Nixon's and Clinton's missteps. True, Rove has successfully wielded access like a weapon against reporters in the past, but only against individual reporters. Unwilling to hang together, journalists have until now allowed themselves to hang separately. This latest clampdown, circumventing the prestige press as a whole and attempting to cut off its very life blood--which is, largely, bloody images-- is qualitatively different from anything they have tried so far, and one that historically has boomeranged on every Administration that's tried it. If they persist, the Bushies are going to experience a world of hurt.
I say, bring it on. Pass the popcorn.
