Now you can't tell me that this is a true "candid" shot with a straight face, can you?

When I read Lloyd Grove’s Death of the White House Press Corps on the Daily Beast yesterday I was immediately intrigued. The print media has been labeled a dying industry for the past few years, but the White House press corps would be spared the axe, right?

The social media-saturated society that we currently live in makes the 24-hour news cycle seem a tad out-dated. People want information here and now – especially from a White House that is so savvy in the space, which could eventually spell bad news for the corps.

The question is – do we really want unfiltered content from the head of our executive branch?

If it were up to me, I would say no. Think about it for a second and answer these questions:

• Do you trust press releases?
• Do you want to get everything spun and wrapped by a PR person?
• Do you want the hard questions not to be asked?

I am sure that yes wasn’t your answer to any of those questions. Like it or not, our country needs the media.

Public relations has been my trade for nearly a decade now and I know the oft-contentious relationship between flacks and journalists. So I see both sides of the fence with this nugget from Grove’s piece:

For as long as there has been a White House, a healthy tension has existed between the president, who seeks to convince the citizenry with calibrated messages and images, and the middlemen of the Fourth Estate, who traditionally convey, interpret, rebut, deride, and otherwise filter those messages and images. Every so often, the president takes his revenge, as Obama did on Friday, mocking skeptical reporters who have been questioning the positive impact of health-care reform. “Can you imagine if some of these reporters were working on a farm and you planted some seeds and they came out next day and they looked—Nothing’s happened! There’s no crop! We’re gonna starve! Oh, no! It’s a disaster!” Obama told a town meeting in Maine. “It’s been a week, folks. So before we find out if people like health-care reform, we should wait to see what happens when we actually put it into place. Just a thought.”

Until relatively recently, middlemen like Plante had the upper hand, and the media filter was robust—notwithstanding persistent and clever attempts by various White House communications gurus to bypass the journalistic kibitzing. But these days, as Plante acknowledges, the filter is fraying.

Now I will not get into the politics here, but the jab at the media is unnecessary.  While the quip is funny, it fails to take into consideration that a journalist or columnist’s job is to offer opinions to the people that consume the media.

If you are a frequent reader of this blog you may be shaking your head a bit at my rationale. I am all for transparency in companies in the space and offering content for the everyday man to consume. However, when it comes to government, we still need some filter with no spin.

Sure the candid White House family photos are great, but wouldn’t you rather see a REAL candid shot of Obama with his daughters or another moment that is not as polished? I would because they show something real and genuine not contrived. So in closing, this spinster is asking for less spin.

What do you think? Will the White House press corps be replaced by Gov 2.0 communications?

I welcome all comments, please be respectful and leave politics at the door. Thanks.

Image – Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Now you can't tell me that this is a true "candid" shot with a straight face, can you?

When I read Lloyd Grove’s Death of the White House Press Corps on the Daily Beast yesterday I was immediately intrigued. The print media has been labeled a dying industry for the past few years, but the White House press corps would be spared the axe, right?

The social media-saturated society that we currently live in makes the 24-hour news cycle seem a tad out-dated. People want information here and now – especially from a White House that is so savvy in the space, which could eventually spell bad news for the corps.

The question is – do we really want unfiltered content from the head of our executive branch?

If it were up to me, I would say no. Think about it for a second and answer these questions:

• Do you trust press releases?
• Do you want to get everything spun and wrapped by a PR person?
• Do you want the hard questions not to be asked?

I am sure that yes wasn’t your answer to any of those questions. Like it or not, our country needs the media.

Public relations has been my trade for nearly a decade now and I know the oft-contentious relationship between flacks and journalists. So I see both sides of the fence with this nugget from Grove’s piece:

For as long as there has been a White House, a healthy tension has existed between the president, who seeks to convince the citizenry with calibrated messages and images, and the middlemen of the Fourth Estate, who traditionally convey, interpret, rebut, deride, and otherwise filter those messages and images. Every so often, the president takes his revenge, as Obama did on Friday, mocking skeptical reporters who have been questioning the positive impact of health-care reform. “Can you imagine if some of these reporters were working on a farm and you planted some seeds and they came out next day and they looked—Nothing’s happened! There’s no crop! We’re gonna starve! Oh, no! It’s a disaster!” Obama told a town meeting in Maine. “It’s been a week, folks. So before we find out if people like health-care reform, we should wait to see what happens when we actually put it into place. Just a thought.”

Until relatively recently, middlemen like Plante had the upper hand, and the media filter was robust—notwithstanding persistent and clever attempts by various White House communications gurus to bypass the journalistic kibitzing. But these days, as Plante acknowledges, the filter is fraying.

Now I will not get into the politics here, but the jab at the media is unnecessary.  While the quip is funny, it fails to take into consideration that a journalist or columnist’s job is to offer opinions to the people that consume the media.

If you are a frequent reader of this blog you may be shaking your head a bit at my rationale. I am all for transparency in companies in the space and offering content for the everyday man to consume. However, when it comes to government, we still need some filter with no spin.

Sure the candid White House family photos are great, but wouldn’t you rather see a REAL candid shot of Obama with his daughters or another moment that is not as polished? I would because they show something real and genuine not contrived. So in closing, this spinster is asking for less spin.

What do you think? Will the White House press corps be replaced by Gov 2.0 communications?

I welcome all comments, please be respectful and leave politics at the door. Thanks.

Image – Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Now you can't tell me that this is a true "candid" shot with a straight face, can you?

When I read Lloyd Grove’s Death of the White House Press Corps on the Daily Beast yesterday I was immediately intrigued. The print media has been labeled a dying industry for the past few years, but the White House press corps would be spared the axe, right?

The social media-saturated society that we currently live in makes the 24-hour news cycle seem a tad out-dated. People want information here and now – especially from a White House that is so savvy in the space, which could eventually spell bad news for the corps.

The question is – do we really want unfiltered content from the head of our executive branch?

If it were up to me, I would say no. Think about it for a second and answer these questions:

• Do you trust press releases?
• Do you want to get everything spun and wrapped by a PR person?
• Do you want the hard questions not to be asked?

I am sure that yes wasn’t your answer to any of those questions. Like it or not, our country needs the media.

Public relations has been my trade for nearly a decade now and I know the oft-contentious relationship between flacks and journalists. So I see both sides of the fence with this nugget from Grove’s piece:

For as long as there has been a White House, a healthy tension has existed between the president, who seeks to convince the citizenry with calibrated messages and images, and the middlemen of the Fourth Estate, who traditionally convey, interpret, rebut, deride, and otherwise filter those messages and images. Every so often, the president takes his revenge, as Obama did on Friday, mocking skeptical reporters who have been questioning the positive impact of health-care reform. “Can you imagine if some of these reporters were working on a farm and you planted some seeds and they came out next day and they looked—Nothing’s happened! There’s no crop! We’re gonna starve! Oh, no! It’s a disaster!” Obama told a town meeting in Maine. “It’s been a week, folks. So before we find out if people like health-care reform, we should wait to see what happens when we actually put it into place. Just a thought.”

Until relatively recently, middlemen like Plante had the upper hand, and the media filter was robust—notwithstanding persistent and clever attempts by various White House communications gurus to bypass the journalistic kibitzing. But these days, as Plante acknowledges, the filter is fraying.

Now I will not get into the politics here, but the jab at the media is unnecessary.  While the quip is funny, it fails to take into consideration that a journalist or columnist’s job is to offer opinions to the people that consume the media.

If you are a frequent reader of this blog you may be shaking your head a bit at my rationale. I am all for transparency in companies in the space and offering content for the everyday man to consume. However, when it comes to government, we still need some filter with no spin.

Sure the candid White House family photos are great, but wouldn’t you rather see a REAL candid shot of Obama with his daughters or another moment that is not as polished? I would because they show something real and genuine not contrived. So in closing, this spinster is asking for less spin.

What do you think? Will the White House press corps be replaced by Gov 2.0 communications?

I welcome all comments, please be respectful and leave politics at the door. Thanks.

Image – Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Now you can't tell me that this is a true "candid" shot with a straight face, can you?

When I read Lloyd Grove’s Death of the White House Press Corps on the Daily Beast yesterday I was immediately intrigued. The print media has been labeled a dying industry for the past few years, but the White House press corps would be spared the axe, right?

The social media-saturated society that we currently live in makes the 24-hour news cycle seem a tad out-dated. People want information here and now – especially from a White House that is so savvy in the space, which could eventually spell bad news for the corps.

The question is – do we really want unfiltered content from the head of our executive branch?

If it were up to me, I would say no. Think about it for a second and answer these questions:

• Do you trust press releases?
• Do you want to get everything spun and wrapped by a PR person?
• Do you want the hard questions not to be asked?

I am sure that yes wasn’t your answer to any of those questions. Like it or not, our country needs the media.

Public relations has been my trade for nearly a decade now and I know the oft-contentious relationship between flacks and journalists. So I see both sides of the fence with this nugget from Grove’s piece:

For as long as there has been a White House, a healthy tension has existed between the president, who seeks to convince the citizenry with calibrated messages and images, and the middlemen of the Fourth Estate, who traditionally convey, interpret, rebut, deride, and otherwise filter those messages and images. Every so often, the president takes his revenge, as Obama did on Friday, mocking skeptical reporters who have been questioning the positive impact of health-care reform. “Can you imagine if some of these reporters were working on a farm and you planted some seeds and they came out next day and they looked—Nothing’s happened! There’s no crop! We’re gonna starve! Oh, no! It’s a disaster!” Obama told a town meeting in Maine. “It’s been a week, folks. So before we find out if people like health-care reform, we should wait to see what happens when we actually put it into place. Just a thought.”

Until relatively recently, middlemen like Plante had the upper hand, and the media filter was robust—notwithstanding persistent and clever attempts by various White House communications gurus to bypass the journalistic kibitzing. But these days, as Plante acknowledges, the filter is fraying.

Now I will not get into the politics here, but the jab at the media is unnecessary.  While the quip is funny, it fails to take into consideration that a journalist or columnist’s job is to offer opinions to the people that consume the media.

If you are a frequent reader of this blog you may be shaking your head a bit at my rationale. I am all for transparency in companies in the space and offering content for the everyday man to consume. However, when it comes to government, we still need some filter with no spin.

Sure the candid White House family photos are great, but wouldn’t you rather see a REAL candid shot of Obama with his daughters or another moment that is not as polished? I would because they show something real and genuine not contrived. So in closing, this spinster is asking for less spin.

What do you think? Will the White House press corps be replaced by Gov 2.0 communications?

I welcome all comments, please be respectful and leave politics at the door. Thanks.

Image – Official White House Photo by Pete Souza