Buttoned-lip strategy serves Bush well

Ari Fleischer keeps the White House message focused, but critics decry what they call evasions and bullying.

WASHINGTON - The question before White House press secretary Ari Fleischer recently focused on French-American relations: Would there be consequences for France's refusal to support the United States' war against Iraq?

After not quite answering the question, Fleischer moved to change the unwelcome subject by calling on another reporter.

But NBC's David Gregory interrupted: "Hold on. We're entitled to follow up, Ari - this isn't homeroom."

"David, there are other qualified reporters in here, too."

"I didn't say they're not qualified, Ari. I'm saying you're running it like it's homeroom."

The reporter's exasperation reflected a painful reality for the White House press corps: The Bush administration seems to treat them a bit like children under supervision.

But for a White House intent on "controlling the message," as they say in Washington, the tactic is paying off. Bush's approval ratings remain high, and the administration has been mostly free of distracting negative stories.

The communications strategy "has been successful," said Martha Joynt Kumar, a political science professor at Towson University in Maryland and an expert on presidential communications. "The public has a good sense of who the president is, and why they want him."

The tight-lipped style of Fleischer - who announced last week he is tired of his long hours and will resign in July - reflects Bush's own wish that the administration speak with one voice, Kumar said.

But it has led to complaints that the administration often does not release enough information for the public and Congress to make informed judgments about Bush's policies.

Opponents of the war against Iraq complain the news media did not press the White House hard enough on its shifting justifications for the invasion. Questions about civil liberties in the post-Sept. 11 era have not been pursued aggressively, the critics say.

"One of the big critiques of how Joe McCarthy was covered was the media basically delivered stenography," said liberal columnist Normon Solomon, a co-author of Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You. "If journalists are defined as glorified stenographers, then the press corps has done a great job."

It's not like reporters haven't tried. During the war, NBC's Gregory demanded of Fleischer: "Does the president think it's appropriate for the public, the news media, to question him at all about the conduct and the progress of the war?"

Fleischer replied, "Absolutely." But, he added: "I do think there is a difference between asking that question and (suggesting) that, "Why isn't it over already?' "

Meanwhile, members of Congress from both parties are upset that the administration consulted little with them about plans for postwar Iraq, thus obscuring what lawmakers say now appears to have been inadequate preparation for reconstructing the country.

The White House snubbed Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar in March by refusing to send Jay Garner - the retired general who headed up the reconstruction effort at that time - to the committee to testify.

Last week, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz appeared before the panel and faced a grilling from Democrats and criticism from Republicans.

"The administration has not sufficiently involved Congress and the American people in its plans regarding the costs, methods, and goals of reconstructing Iraq," Lugar said.

And contrary to administration statements that Iraq oil sales would finance the bulk of reconstruction, Lugar said the final bill to American taxpayers could be more than $100-billion.

Bush, meanwhile, has made himself available to formal questioning by the news media far fewer times than his predecessors, according to research by Kumar.

The president has held only eight formal news conferences. At the same point in their terms, Bill Clinton had held 30 solo news conferences and Bush's father had held 58, Kumar found.

Bush's last news conference was in March, before the Iraq war was launched. He called on a preselected list of reporters, from publications mostly deemed friendly, and got some softball questions, such as how his faith guides him.

The tactic allowed Bush to duck tough issues such as the unsuccessful hunt for Osama bin Laden and the faltering economy.

In an interview for a paper to be published next month, White House communications aide Jim Wilkinson told Kumar the president's overall communications philosophy is to "make news on his own terms."

The goal is prevent hostile interest groups, political opponents or journalists from creating controversies that can drive news coverage of the presidency.

To do so requires rigid preparation. Teams of planners decide in advance what each day's theme or event will be, then give White House reporters only one issue to cover, so that cable news channels and newspapers will reflect a clear and uncluttered message, Kumar said.

Fleischer did not formulate policy or play the dominate role in crafting themes, she added. His job was to deliver the message and fend off questions from reporters that might lead the day's story in an unwanted direction, Kumar said.

Bush has also been more vigilant than his predecessors in placing loyalists in press office jobs at key agencies. The idea is that people like Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke, who had worked for Bush's father when he was vice president and during his 1992 re-election campaign, will look out more for the president's interests and image than for Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's, Kumar said.

President Clinton's press secretary Mike McCurry said he admires Fleischer's ability to stick to a message under pressure. He attributed the Bush team's discipline to cultural differences between Democrats and Republicans.

"The Democrats mistakenly think the press is on their side, and they get burned as a result," he said. "The Republicans never have that delusion, and treat you as the caged beef that you are. They feed you once a day and tell you to go away."

At times, Fleischer has seemed to attack the competence of major news organizations when faced with an "off-message" article.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal interviewed Treasury Secretary John Snow about the president's tax cut bill. The story said Snow had suggested he would be willing to compromise with Congress on Bush's centerpiece proposal: elimination of taxes on stock dividends.

Asked about the story at the White House briefing, Fleischer stated flatly: "Secretary Snow did not say that to The Wall Street Journal." A reporter asked to see the proof: Treasury's transcript of the interview.

"Ken? Ken?" Fleischer said, calling on another reporter.

Fleischer also regularly condemns White House reporters for quoting unnamed administration officials in stories - but only when the quotes appear to be at odds with the message of the day. Yet Fleischer himself regularly goes "on background" with reporters when anonymity suits him, reporters say.

More troubling to reporters is what they view as attempts to bully them into covering the White House the way Bush wants it to be covered.

In an unusual confession, Washington Post reporter Jonathan Weisman told an online forum for journalists in March that he had allowed the White House to manipulate a quote in a profile of then-economic adviser R. Glenn Hubbard.

Weisman wrote that he had agreed to e-mail quotes he had obtained from another official to the press office for approval. The press office then insisted on changing words that altered the meaning of the quote, and Weisman - to his later regret - acquiesced.

Fleischer has also been unafraid to tamper with the White House briefing room's coveted seating assignments. Last October, he banished Newsweek, Time and U.S. News to the sixth row from the second; Republican favorite Fox News moved up from row six to two, and business wire Bloomberg News jumped from six to three.

In the cramped briefing room, sitting in a back seat means a reporter's raised hand is less likely to be recognized, thus reducing his organization's clout.

McCurry said Fleischer has done a generally good job, and he said his evasions are simply part of the game.

"When it got too hot in there, I'd just call on Japanese television," McCurry said. "That's the way to go. All press secretaries have to develop their defense mechanism."

Still, the White House's discomfort with the news media is never far from the surface. A few weeks ago, reporters asked Fleischer if they could question the president during an upcoming appearance.

"We'll just see what the president's mood is when he gets there and see how well-behaved the press is," Fleischer said jokingly. "Obviously, if it's pouring down rain, the president will definitely invite the press outside for a news conference."

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright