White House Pressroom Gets a Makeover

WHITE HOUSE PRESSROOM GETS MAKEOVER
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John D. McKinnon john.mckinnon@wsj.com]
For a decade, the daily White House news briefing has been televised. Now it is becoming television. Earlier this year, Fox News talk show host Tony Snow was hired as press secretary. Next up: a renovation of the briefing room, likely with a video wall that could display everything from "flags waving in the breeze [to] detailed charts and graphs," according to a senior White House official working on the project. For TV viewers, the video feed could be the sole on-screen image, or could share the space with the speaker. White House officials say they are weighing how -- and how often -- to use the video capability. But the new technology could help transform White House briefings -- midday exchanges with reporters in a utilitarian setting -- into more interesting viewing. Both the planned video capabilities and Mr. Snow's hiring appear to be part of a subtle but sweeping effort by administration officials to deliver their message directly to the public, particularly through video. The Bush administration has taken the practice of managing its official message to new levels -- for example, by providing packaged video stories to local TV news shows, as well as paying conservative columnists for positive coverage -- a practice the president since has criticized. On the campaign trail and in many public events, President Bush has used backdrops with vivid images or repeated slogans to reinforce the words of his speeches. Some media observers say the moves to upgrade the White House briefing reflect a focus on minimizing or circumventing criticism of the Bush administration in the place where it has been most concentrated -- the dingy and often unruly press briefing room.
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