For my inaugural post on the CCPS blog, I thought I would err on the side of simplicity. Indeed, those who know me might say that this isn’t a long trip…
A regular component of classes I teach on both the presidency and politics & the media pay some attention to presidential strategies of “going public.” One distinct advantage presidents have when doing a round of news interviews with local reporters is what I call the “Gee, it’s great to be interviewing you, Mr. President” effect, where local reporters often get gobbled up by both the intimidation factor of interviewing the president and facing the onslaught of the presidential message machine. Often, this results in local journalists reporting very positively on the news of the president’s local efforts, ignoring issues that are of interest to White House reporters and political opponents of the president. The same thing often happens in presidential campaigns, where national correspondents bored of the same old stump speech cover different elements of an event than the local reporters who are all jockeying for their 2-minute “exclusive” with the candidate.
Today, the national news media is all aflutter about a picture the Drudge Report first posted of “dressed” Barack Obama. The picture is of interest to the mainstream media (MSM) because of continued false allegations and reports that Sen. Obama is a Muslim, when in fact he is a member of the United Church of Christ. Do Texas and Ohio newspapers care about this? After all, it’s on the front page of foxnews.com and the CNN “Ticker”…
Not so much.
The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting a relatively lazy story about how crowds are gathering to hear Obama speak while the Columbus Post-Dispatch has a horse race story about Obama closing the gap with Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Buckeye State. The Post-Dispatch also has a substantive story about NAFTA, an issue Sen. Obama has been pushing in direct-mailings and Sen. Clinton has been responding to by saying “Shame on you Barack Obama” at a campaign stop/new viral video. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has a few stories on the upcoming debate at CSU and a story about Sen. Clinton’s criticisms of a 527 ad from labor folks who favor Obama. For those who keep track, two major Ohio papers have endorsed Obama, one has endorsed Clinton. All three have endorsed, (big surprise) John McCain.
Over in Houston, media coverage seems to be following the “Gee, it’s great to be interviewing you, Mr. President” line a bit more closely. The Houston Chronicle follows Chelsea Clinton to campaign events at churches, reports on Sen. Clinton’s assurances to donors that her campaign is on track, previews a Michelle Obama rally, and mentions the opening of another Obama campaign office. Perhaps not surprisingly, there is a link to a story that Obama is closing the gap in Ohio…
Down the road in San Antonio, there is a mix of news (NAFTA) and insult (an op-ed mocking Sen. Clinton). The San Antonio Express-News also covers Louis Farrakhan’s unsolicited endorsement of Obama. We should expect news of this endorsement to be wrapped into MSM coverage of a “dressed Obama.”
All in all, it appears as though the local newspapers covering the election are focusing on three things: 1) what the candidates tell them to (here a rally, there a rally), 2) the horserace (Obama is closing the gap, 527 ads), and 3) NAFTA (a substantive policy disagreement wrapped in a horserace story about tactics). There’s not a mention of a “dressed Obama,” the Clinton campaign’s involvement in promoting the photograph, the Obama campaign response, or the Clinton campaign response to the Obama response.
Of course, it's only noon...
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