Tag Archives: press secretary

To Brief Or Not To Brief: Shouldn’t Be A Question

BY B. JAY COOPER
Reprinted from BJayCooper.com

Reed Cherlin, a former assistant press secretary in the Obama White House, wrote a provocative piece for Slate proposing eliminating the daily White House press briefing. He argues, accurately, that the briefings have become a “preening” exercise for the media and a “first, make no news” goal for the Obama press office team.

If those two conditions were to be true and constant, I’d agree with Mr. Cherlin. But, they needn’t be.

I worked in the White House press office in the late 80s, before the Internet and before the onslaught of cable news channels and their ubiquitous talking heads who typically take one extreme position or another and take it over and over all day. The briefings have become even more performance art than they were in my day. But, and I don’t mean to sound like my father but, “in my day,” they also served a purpose. Continue reading →

Carney Needs to Listen to Himself

BY B. JAY COOPER
Reprinted from BJayCooper.com

Jay Carney, White House press secretary is having, the worst of times.

With Benghazi talking points, IRS targeting right-wing groups and the Justice Department targeting AP reporters, ol’ Jay is getting LOTS of questions these days.
Politico put together what seems to be his standard answer to a question he doesn’t want to answer: “I appreciate the question.”

Having sat in the White House press office when the pressure hits, I have a good sense of what’s going on (even though the addition of 24/7 cable, the dimunition of the old get-it-right-first journalism and the pressure of the Internet didn’t exist back then and certainly has dramatically changed the dynamics). Still, there are principles for handling crisis that always come into play. For  example, don’t speak before you know the truth. Not always easy, I know. Continue reading →