by Mark Silva
White Houses lately, and successful campaigns as well, have prided themselves on "media management" - with carefully planned campaign and official events aimed at steering "around that filter'' of the national media and delivering a controlled public message.
The Bush White House was, for the longest time, virtually leak-proof - except when a leak served its purposes (Valerie Plame's identity, for instance.) Both the former president's first chief of staff, Andy Card, and the president himself, would sometimes make it known to staffers in a very formal way at the White House how important their confidence was to the president. In his first campaign, Bush made a point of sitting with regional reporters instead of courting the national press.
The Bush White House operated "on message" as a whole for the better part of the president's two terms in office. And the Bush campaigns were roving (pardon the pun) on-message machines.
The Obama White House has a similar discipline about message control - there's a reason that the president makes the rounds of Sunday morning news shows, a reason that "town-hall'' meetings are held around the country as big votes near in Congress. By going directly to the public, and around the press, the administration attempts to steer, if not control, what's written about it.
"We had a huge premium both on message discipline, on people in the campaign not leaking to reporters, on people in the campaign not discussing our strategy, and also on making the press cover what we were saying,'' Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, said at a conference in January. " It did not always make us popular with the press, but we increasingly, by the general election, very rarely did we communicate through the press anything that we didn't absolutely control.''
The press has an obligation to report what a candidate and president says, and the press, of course, has an obligation to penetrate the bubble of orchestrated events and messages. The media have no interest in being controlled - we are manipulated at times, for sure, and we usually can see it, but controlled as a rule? We don't think so.
This musing is inspired this morning by a video making the rounds of the Internet featuring Dunn, communications director for the White House and a campaign strategist, explaining some of the strategies that the Obama campaign employed in winning election. Dunn speaks of videos that campaign manager David Plouffe made, the local appearances that then-Sen. Barack Obama made and the efforts at discipline and message-control that the staff made.
Her remarks came at a post-election, pre-inaugural conference in the Dominican Republic, on Jan. 12, sponsored by the Global Foundation for Democracy.
They are making the rounds this morning with the help of conservative activists attempting to advance their own story line: Targeting Dunn. (If Glenn Beck isn't talking about this on TV tonight, we'll be mightily surprised.) It follows another video in which Dunn once referred to Mao Zedong as one of her favorite philosophers (Mother Teresa is the other one.) We hear, in the video, pretty much what we've heard from a lot of campaigns and White Houses: They'd like to be in control of the message, or at least think they are.
"A recurring theme in journalistic conferences held after elections is always the press' focus on the so-called 'horserace issues at the expense of issues and substance,'' Dunn tells the Tribune Washington Bureau this morning. "In the course of the Obama campaign, we were able to utilize the new media tools available to make sure that we could communicate directly with voters on the campaign and on the challenges facing the nation as well as communicate through more traditional means, such as television interviews, speeches, and press coverage. ''
This is some of what Dunn had to say in January (see the video above):
"The reality is that, whether it was a David Plouffe video or an Obama speech, that a huge part of our press strategy was focused on making the media cover what Obama was actually saying, as opposed to why the campaign was saying it, what the tactic was...
"We had a huge premium both on message discipline, on people in the campaign not leaking to reporters, on people in the campaign not discussing our strategy, and also on making the press cover what we were saying..
"One of the reasons we did so many of the David Plouffe videos was not just for our supporters, but also because it was a way for us to get our message out without having to actually having to talk to reporters. We just put that out there and make them write what Plouffe had said, as opposed to Plouffe doing an interview with a reporter. It was very much we controlled it, as opposed to the press controlled it.
"It did not always make us popular with the press, but we increasingly, by the general election, very rarely did we communicate through the press anything that we didn't absolutely control.
"Sen. Obama himself did a lot of local television, we did as much live television as possible, so it couldn't be edited.... So that what the voters heard, we determined, as opposed to some editor in a TV station.
"One of the reasons that the Web-site worked so well is that we used opportunities in the traditional to drive people on line, to say that's where you can get more information... We used press to basically drive people to our Web-site, which increased our traffic.
"We went around that filter.''
Comments
Any chance Anita Dunn lasts at her job until the end of the year? Hardly "no drama."
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | October 19, 2009 10:56 AM
Freedom is Slavery
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.
George Orwell
Welcome to 1984. Hope you enjoy the ride...
Posted by: sabalom glitz | October 19, 2009 11:19 AM
My concern is this White House is starting to repeat the mistakes of the Nixon White House.
It appears, to me, that if you are critical of Obama's policies you are subject to either attack or censorship.
Posted by: Pat H | October 19, 2009 11:38 AM
Listening to Terry McAuliffe yesterday, this whole dust-up between Obama and Fox News is due to the fact that the Fox Network (not Fox News) did not carry BO's address before Congress on heath care. If that is the case, then why isn't the White House dissing CNN - their sister entertainment channels - TNT and TBS did not carry BO's address.
This whole story just shows what a bunch of cry babies BO has in his administration
Posted by: Terry | October 19, 2009 11:54 AM
What
Would
MAO
Do?
Posted by: JD | October 19, 2009 12:15 PM
Matt -- I BELIEVE Dunn has already said she's leaving. That's why the WH is using her as front person on this whole unnecessary flap about Fox.
Posted by: Beth | October 19, 2009 12:28 PM
Rove: President Bush "encouraged me to read a Mao biography." From Rove's December 26, 2008, Wall Street Journal column:
With only five days left, my lead is insurmountable. The competition can't catch up. And for the third year in a row, I'll triumph. In second place will be the president of the United States. Our contest is not about sports or politics. It's about books.
It all started on New Year's Eve in 2005. President Bush asked what my New Year's resolutions were. I told him that as a regular reader who'd gotten out of the habit, my goal was to read a book a week in 2006. Three days later, we were in the Oval Office when he fixed me in his sights and said, "I'm on my second. Where are you?" Mr. Bush had turned my resolution into a contest.
By coincidence, we were both reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals." The president jumped to a slim early lead and remained ahead until March, when I moved decisively in front. The competition soon spun out of control. We kept track not just of books read, but also the number of pages and later the combined size of each book's pages -- its "Total Lateral Area."
We recommended volumes to each other (for example, he encouraged me to read a Mao biography; I suggested a book on Reconstruction's unhappy end). We discussed the books and wrote thank-you notes to some authors.
Posted by: BC | October 19, 2009 12:41 PM
The media is "controlled" by the White House? "we don't think so," sayeth the Swamp scribe.
No, THIS White House doesn't NEED to "control" an all-too-willing media. This media will promote, excuse and defend Democrats all by themselves....
Posted by: Bruce | October 19, 2009 12:52 PM
Well like all good Leftist, Mao simply exterminated 70 million of his own citizens. What is not to love?
As one of the Left long heroes, the New York Times' Walter Duranty, said about the glorious communist revolution...."you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs".
And thankfully, Leftists always know whom the eggs to be broken need to be, just ask them. Currently it is conservative Christians.
Posted by: LogicalUS | October 19, 2009 1:55 PM
The White House and any educated American takes Glenn Beck's poltical entertainment about as seriously as they would Howard Stern. Rupert Murdoch himself is admitting this circus is all for ratings. But the "war" he refers to was started by his own employees/tv personalities - all in the name of ratings - as he said. The same people who buy Star Magazine and the National Enquirer watch Fox 'news'. It's the same caliber and it is very obvious why the White House wouldn't lend it any credence.
Posted by: Gary | October 19, 2009 1:59 PM
My concern is this White House is starting to repeat the mistakes of the Nixon White House.It appears, to me, that if you are critical of Obama's policies you are subject to either attack or censorship.
Posted by: Pat H | October 19, 2009 11:38 AM
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.
So, Obama is dismantling America and he's also accomplished nothing?
And the Repugs wonder why no believes their BS anti Obama propaganda anymore?
They can't even keep their story straight about why they supposedly hate Obama.
Posted by: Steven S | October 19, 2009 2:03 PM
Why doesn't Beck just admit that his boss Rupert Murdoch is in bed with the Communist Chinese gov't.?
Why won't he expose how Rupert dines with Communist leaders in their elite compound, and how Fox News helped China’s state broadcaster develop a "news" Web site. and yes, tell us more about how old Rupert married a Communist.
Sadly, Fox News fans are being played by Rupert and his Commie cronies.
Posted by: DrainYou | October 19, 2009 2:07 PM
This media will promote, excuse and defend Democrats all by themselves....
Posted by: Bruce | October 19, 2009 12:52 PM
*****************************
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Yeah, the media is sooooo bad to your Repug heroes, right Brucie? Maybe they should buy up an entire "news" outlet and then start hording AM radio stations so they can get their anti-Obama message out better?......Oh, wait a minute......nevermind.
Posted by: civil war guy | October 19, 2009 2:13 PM
Matt: I think someone said on one of the Sunday snoozer shows yester that Ms. Dunn will be vacating that post sometime in December. I think this supposed war on Fox is just a distraction from the healthcare stuff and after Obama gets his bill passed he will want to kiss and make up with Fox by granting them an appearance. I like Fox - I would just as soon he keep his mug off of Fox - and that goes for all his radicals too.
Posted by: vla | October 19, 2009 2:15 PM
Anita Dunn sings:
Um Mao Mao Mao Mao
Um Mao Mao Mao Mao
Posted by: wnaegele | October 19, 2009 2:16 PM
Anita Dunn is married to Obama's personal attorney. They are considered the new power couple in Washingon. Ponder that for a while.
Posted by: Linda | October 19, 2009 2:16 PM
Fox lost all credibility as a news organization when they began hosting and promoting anti-government rallies. They have become shills for the republicans.
Beck, Hannity, etc. do nothing but spread lies and misinformation about Obama. It's rather disingenuous of them to pretend that they're legitimate journalists who are being oppressed because they ask "tough questions."
Posted by: incognita | October 19, 2009 2:19 PM
Fox News admits that their talk shows are opinion based, which is obvious and indisputable. It's not straight news and it's not meant to be. No problem. The problem lies in their "news" side. They don't have a straight news division like CNN, MSNBC, ABC, etc. They have propaganda disguised as news. That's a serious issue that must be addressed.
The problem with Fox News is that they have shown over and over again that they tilt their news coverage indisputably toward a right-wing perspective and refuse to admit it. They are not purely driven by the news. They are driven by an agenda.
Posted by: Kim Kyler | October 19, 2009 2:26 PM
Fox has gone so far away from being about news rather than propaganda, that comparing their ratings to CNN or MSNBC is apples and oranges. Might as well compare the Disney Channel to CNN and see whose ratings are higher.
Once one moves the comparisons away from "cable news", Fox News gets clobbered.
For example, Meet The Press and This Week clean the clocks of Fox News Sunday's ratings. Fox News Sunday appears, not on Fox News (until reruns later in the day), but on broadcast TV's Fox Network (which is a separate operation, whose programming often mocks conservatives and even has a history of being targeted by conservative boycotts (such as the boycott that tried to get Fox to dump Married With Children)). Therefore, Fox News Sunday competes against the broadcast network news shows and gets clobbered.
Also, the #1 news web site, in terms of visitors per month and video streams consumed per month is msnbc.com, followed by Yahoo news and CNN.com. FoxNews.com is well down in the rankings.
Faux news is and has always been the official propaganda organ of the Republican party.
The right wing dead-enders who watch their programming still believe that they represent the majority view and Faux will never tell them otherwise.
Posted by: Bert Huber | October 19, 2009 2:43 PM
While Fox has the right wing commentators on at night MCNBC has the Left Wing Commentators on with such people as Keith Olbermann, Rachel Madlow and the others. The difference is that last summer MCNBC tried to use Olberman and Matthews on as real "so-called unbiased" news people covering the political conventions until NBC's professional news anchors Tom Brokow and Brian Williams went into open revolt and got them removed. If you want a straight news report I suggest you DO NOT watch either Fox or MCNBC at night where you will get slanted and very narrow coverage of the issues.
The Obama White House needs to lighten up and stop their attacks on Fox. All they have done is make right wing commentator Glenn Beck a household name and brought the position of the presidency down to a new level. What's next for Obama Administration, a enemies list of reporters and commentators they do not like?
Posted by: Depot- Jim | October 19, 2009 2:58 PM
Fox News = Pro Wrestling.
Just as fake, just as dumb and entertaining, just as cheeseball, and appeals to pretty much the same demographic.
Everyone knew it was fake but for years they denied it. Eventually even they admitted it was "entertainment". Everyone knows Fox is fake but they refuse to admit it. That makes them not only partisan but dishonest.
I have to admit, I would pay good money to watch that pro wrestler smack John Stossel around again.
Posted by: Ronnie | October 19, 2009 3:03 PM
What do you mean Fox News is becoming a shill for Republicans? They have always been shills for the Republicans.
Posted by: Quippy | October 19, 2009 3:10 PM
FOX News is not "the Press." It's the Republican Party. They are the same thing.
And it was real rich to have George Bush Sr whinning about "how bad the political discourse in this country is" then calling Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow "Sick puppies" when he employed Lee Attwater, Karl Rove, and Roger Ailes to make up some of the most vicious and racist lies about Democrats ever heard in the history of this country.
Posted by: William Domingo | October 19, 2009 3:22 PM
The Daily Show did a great segment just last week showing how Fox News acted as cheerleaders for the 9/12 Tea Party protests and gave it wall to wall coverage, yet for a protest of almost the same exact size - the Gay Rights protest last weekend - they didn't send a single camera crew.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/daily-show-fox-news-prefers-teabaggers-over-gay-rights-marchers/
And The Daily Show didn't even mention a Fox News producer who was caught on camera riling up the crowds in the 9/12 protest and literally encouraging them to cheer louder. I don't think they sent a similar "news producer" to the gay rights march. To argue that they covered these protests straight without any leaning toward one side or another is comically disingenuous.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/19/fox-news-producer-caught_n_292529.html
Posted by: Faux News = Comedy Central | October 19, 2009 3:46 PM
$10: copies to make fake press release saying US Chamber of Commerce is endorsing cap n' trade.
$15: Stamps to send phony press release to major national news organizations.
$0: Thomson Reuters and NBC News run with the story as if it was real news complete with PMSNBC anchor READING from the phony press release on camera. None bothered to check with the US Chamber to see if it was true.
Priceless: Fox News doesn't take the bait and Fox Business is the first to report the hoax and note how PMSNBC and Thomson-Reuters were wrong. Hey Dunn, who's a real news organization and who isn't now? Who tilts their news again? Who doesn't follow journalism 101 and confirm everything that comes through the door again?
Naturally, the swamp won't report about their friends at PMSNBC getting duped.
http://weblogs.jomc.unc.edu/talkingbiznews/?p=11349
Posted by: Jeff | October 19, 2009 3:51 PM
FOLLOW THE MONEY$$$$
Controlling the "NEWS" from GE Corporation owned "NEWS" organizations, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC...See what the great Corporate Fighter Obama has done for his Favorite campaign donor General Electric:
GE has a big Healthcare division, which stands to profit from Government run healthcare. But that's just the tip of the iceberg...
General Electric: Obama's Halliburton?
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/general_electric_obamas_hallib.html
Leaked e-mail shows how GE puts the government to work for GE
By: TIMOTHY P. CARNEY
Examiner Columnist
August 26, 2009
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/How-GE-puts-the-government-to-work-for-GE-8154266-54820577.html
Obama helps strengthen General Electric-Putin ties
By: TIMOTHY P. CARNEY
Examiner Columnist
09/17/09 2:06 PM EDT
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Obama-helps-strengthen-General-Electric-Putin-ties-59644627.html
BARRACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, BIGGEST SCAM IN HISTORY, IN THE POCKET OF GENERAL ELECTRIC; IN THE PROCESS OF PAYING BACK GENERAL ELECTRIC WITH YOUR MONEY AND YOUR COUNTRY.
Posted by: Gary | October 19, 2009 3:59 PM
Ahhh, the Worthless, Miserable Loons from the Left are running amok again.
Where shall I start?
1. Idiot-for-life BC, reading a bio about Mao is nothing like stating he is one of someone's favorite "philosophers." Reading such a bio provides insight into history, even the mindset of China today and other historical data.
2. I love it when Mark Silva always adds, and she cites Mother Teresa too. Mark, Mao killed tens of millions of Chinese. Coupling Mao with Mother Teresa is like coupling Hitler and Ghandi.
3. Website hits. MSNBC gets the benefit of being a part of MSN. Folks who have msn.com as their home page or search engine get newsfeeds to MSNBC. Yahoo News benefits from people having Yahoo as their home page or search engine.
4. Network ratings. Bert, Fox is just as much a news outlet as CNN or MSNBC. All three have biases and opinion programs. Comparing the ratings to all three is NOT mixing apples to oranges. Fact is, Fox News has more viewers than CNN, MSNBC, Headline News and CNBC COMBINED!
5. Fox covering TEA party rallies. It is news when tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of average everyday Americans gather in protest. Heck, just a week ago WGN News covered an anti-war rally when all of three dozen people showed up. Course, when 10,000 showed up in Joliet on Labor Day at a TEA party rally, WGN News conveniently was not there.
Lefty Loons: Shoo, Scat, Go Away!! Leave this good country of the USA to the good people. You folks go where you're most happy: Venezuela.
Posted by: John D | October 19, 2009 4:27 PM
Cradle to grave liberals, who thrive on everything free and given to them by American taxpayers, are the biggest liars around. Just look at some of the ridiculous postings here by the loons on the left. They are hilarious.
Posted by: smokehouse | October 19, 2009 5:00 PM
In 2008 employees of ABC (the All Barack Channel) contributed 16 times as much money to Democrat Obama as they did to Republican McCain.
So naturally the White House and its Swamp megaphones love ABC.
The same Leftist biases hold true for NBC (Nothing but Barack Channel), CBS (Completely Barack's Station), and other media outlets. A June 2008 analysis in the American Thinker ( http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/07/big_media_puts_its_money_where.html ) showed that journalists give 15 times as much money to Democrats as Republicans. NBC was 30-1 Dem, CBS 45-1 Dem.
So what media does Mark "DNC" Silva single out for alleged bias? Fox!
Comment is unnecessary.
Posted by: Bruce | October 19, 2009 5:16 PM
"The press has an obligation to report what a candidate and president says, and the press, of course, has an obligation to penetrate the bubble of orchestrated events and messages. The media have no interest in being controlled - we are manipulated at times, for sure, and we usually can see it, but controlled as a rule? We don't think so."
Hogwash, you can see it in the gleeful eyes of reporters when Obama preaches to their beliefs. You can see it in the media's complete failure to ask Obama tough questions. There are so many examples of the press willing turning a blind eye on Obama. Fact is, you can't see anything because you are a smitten kitten for the god Obama. You can't tell the difference between Journalism and McCarthyism.
Posted by: Gary | October 19, 2009 5:21 PM
efty Loons: Shoo, Scat, Go Away!! Leave this good country of the USA to the good people. You folks go where you're most happy: Venezuela.
Posted by: John D | October 19, 2009 4:27 PM
*********************************
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Pipe down, Lil Johnny Dittohead.
If you keep talking crazy like that the next thing you know some unbalanced right wing whackjobs are going to start going out and doing crazy stuff, like murdering doctors or shooting up Holocaust Museums.....Wait a minute!?...That already happened?.....nevermind.
.
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2009/06/mythbusting-right-wing-domestic.html
.
Posted by: janet | October 19, 2009 6:08 PM
So let me get this straight about Anita's favorite news organization - CNN. CNN fact checks a SNL skit that is slightly poking fun at BO, but one of its "unbiased anchors/reporters" doesn't fact check racist remarks that a conservative radio host alledgedly makes. Sounds like a quality news organization.
Posted by: Terry | October 19, 2009 7:09 PM
Why can't we make up own minds as to what TV station we wish to watch, gather info from and form our own opinion
Aren't we capable of doing that and using that freedom that was given us? Listening and watching all stations is fair and it gives me the choice of what I want to do with the information that I have gatherred. Why are you trying to take that right away from me?
Posted by: Barbara | October 19, 2009 8:03 PM
When people call Faux news "right wing propaganda" and "the media arm of the Republican party" it isn't trash talking, it's the truth.
Check out these pro-Bush internal memos from Faux management. If this isn't propaganda I don't know what is.
.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200407140002
.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/19/fox-news-viewers-misinformed/
.
Posted by: Zappo Dave | October 19, 2009 8:11 PM
Dems get their information from a variety of sources whereas the Repugs ALL gather at the Faux "News" trough to get fed their daily talking points, like the toothless rubes they are.
Dems want to know the truth, Repugs want Faux to reinforce their belief that Jesus rode a dinosaur and the Earth is flat....that explains Faux's ratings. Big deal....
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-eyuFBrWHs
.
Posted by: Ballon Boy | October 19, 2009 8:14 PM
2 things:
"The Bush White House was, for the longest time, virtually leak-proof - except when a leak served its purposes (Valerie Plame's identity, for instance.) "
Oh really? Funny. When the dust settled it was Richard Armitage. Remember? Google it. With "CNN."
2. "Dunn once referred to Mao Zedong as one of her favorite philosophers."
Oh really? Funny. You weren't paying close attention, were you? Why the dissembling? The minimizing -- "once?"
Why don't words have meaning to postmodern deconstructionists? Make it mean whatever you want. More than a few of us who understand that words have meaning watched the video.
Posted by: JAL | October 19, 2009 9:25 PM
How's that Hope and Change working out for you? Like having the administration spoon feed you....? Take a minute, look at what this administration is doing!!
Posted by: Sam | October 19, 2009 11:45 PM
**************************
Dunn once referred to Mao Zedong as one of her favorite philosophers."
Oh really? Funny. You weren't paying close attention, were you? Why the dissembling? The minimizing -- "once?"
Posted by: JAL | October 19, 2009 9:25 PM
******************************
.
Because, no matter what Fixed News Channel tells you, it was only said ONCE.
Shouldn't you Wingnutters be out handling snakes and chugging motor oil today?
Oh that's right, it's not Sunday. My bad....
Posted by: Marty Moon | October 19, 2009 11:50 PM
Hey Dumb Dumb Janet, what about the lefty loon that shot the pro-lifer in Michigan?
Oh, and that guy who shot up the Holocaust Museum? Seems to me he also targeted the Weekly Standard, a CONSERVATIVE publication that employs CONSERVATIVE people. So, I would say that makes him a left wing loon.
Really Dumb Dumb, before you speak, get a brain. Anyway, why is it that all of you partners ask the same question about when you're going to clean there???
Posted by: John D | October 19, 2009 11:59 PM
"Freedom is Slavery"
Obama is pro-slavery.
His vision for America is to reestablish slavery, not along racial lines, but as an equal-opportunity Master.
In Obama's America, all of us except the liberal elite (i.e. Obama's sycophantic, boot-licking lapdogs) will be one of two kinds of slaves: either a tax slave (the working drones), or a welfare slave (the dependent class). His goal is to make every single American utterly dependent on the good graces of a totalitarian government, while sucking every ounce of wealth he can from the producers. Haven't we seen this model somewhere before?
Posted by: A 21st century abolitionist | October 20, 2009 11:33 AM
Is it only me to see this? No other network reported this for 2 days.
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | October 20, 2009 1:54 PM
welcome to the age of neo-reconstruction not post racial politics
Posted by: rawdawgbuffalo | October 20, 2009 4:43 PM
Speaking of Fake News, when is Little Liberal JohnEE Cupcakes going to apologize and retract his fake Rush Limbaugh quotes. Poor Little Daily Kos Lemming JohnEE, so fallible. Another sick puppy. I'll go ahead and hold my breath, little JohnEE. That will help curtail Global Climate change at the same time!
JohnEE Post Count for this story: 9, all under different names, but the same wacky message.
Posted by: Little JohnnEE Fake Quotes | October 20, 2009 5:55 PM
White House's message rolling is very interesting to study.
Posted by: flash speicher | October 28, 2009 12:37 AM