Summary
Contents
This comprehensive guide is the definitive source for researchers seeking an understanding of those who have occupied the White House and on the institution of the U.S. presidency. Readers turn to Guide to the Presidency for its wealth of facts and analytical chapters that explain the structure, powers, and operations of the office and the president’s relationship with Congress and the Supreme Court. The work is divided into eight distinct subject areas covering every aspect of the U.S. presidency.
Chapter 18 The President and the News Media
Chapter 18 The President and the News Media
For decades, presidents have had to deal with a combative press corps that made life miserable for them and their spokespersons. Today, presidents have to deal with a combative press corps and ordinary citizens with access to the Internet who are not afraid to express their views and whose voices are heard because official Washington pays attention to widely visited political weblogs (“blogs”) and social media sites. It was all a bit much for President Barack Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, when he pushed back—perhaps a little too hard—on August 10, 2010, against a drumbeat of complaints against the administration expressed on progressive websites by people who were ostensibly the ...