"Celebrity Journalism at the White House" ..(Dan Froomkin Reports)

[KoKo]

Dan Froomkin: Celebrity Journalism at the White House
Posted at 10:43 am, June 3rd, 2009 Dan Froomkin Mug

What would you do if you — and your 32 camera crews — were granted unparalleled access to the White House for a day? And then you had two full hours of prime-time TV to fill?

There are many mysteries you might try to explore. How does President Obama actually make decisions? What if anything changes his mind? What blows his cool? How does he settle disputes among his advisers? Who is the last one to whisper in his ear? How does he treat his staff? How furious is the competition for his attention? Who wins? Why is he so sure, so confident, that thinking big is the solution to every problem? How do he and his staff really feel about the mess Bush left them? How does the former constitutional law professor reconcile his devotion to civil liberties with a handful of recent decisions that have horrified civil libertarians? Does he have second thoughts?

But sadly those were not the sorts of things that seemed to interest anchor Brian Williams and the more than two dozen NBC News producers responsible for the “Inside the Obama White House” special showing last night and tonight, a show that treats Obama like a celebrity rather than a president.

Part of the problem, most assuredly, was that the White House had the ultimate say in what the cameras were allowed to record, and what they weren’t. As Williams says at the show’s outset: “Our job is to show as much as we can of the inner workings, especially of the West Wing. The job of the White House is to show us what they want us to see.”

And yet what seems to fascinate Williams the most is what everyone is eating. There are, it turns out, apples and M&Ms all over the White House. In fact, the show devotes a whole montage to people pouring, throwing and consuming M&Ms. And the high point of the day, the centerpiece of the hour-long show last night, what Williams calls Obama’s “brief shining moment,” is a hokey, obviously staged burger run to Five Guys. The cameras literally languish over greasy paper bags full of french fries.

It’s the kind of substanceless fawning that leads some to conclude that the press is soft on Obama. But this show wasn’t about his politics or his policies. It was a celebration and amplification of the star power of the presidency in general, and of this president in particular. Simply showing him eating a burger they apparently consider great television.

And tonight, we’re promised an interview with Bo the dog.

MORE of ARTICLE at........
http://blog.niemanwatchdog.org/?

I understand what Froomkin is saying and he's a good contrarian to Williams report...WATCH HERE:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30892505 /

I think it's good for us Democrats to look at BOTH SIDES...What Obama wanted us to see and what underlies what Obama wanted us to see.

[high density]

1. What was Williams supposed to do?

Not show the burger run?

Not show the dog?

"The job of the White House is to show us what they want us to see." -- This sums up the program. We did see the White House's reaction to the Sotomayor quote play out on the show.

[KoKo]

4. I think Williams did an incredible job. I watched all of it three times..and loved the Message

that Obama wanted us to see. I do believe they are good people. But, they are just figureheads for a past administration.

I think they might eventually see that...or maybe they know, already. They are young and will survive. America is made up of more than the young...and many will not.

[Uzybone]

2. If people cared about Bush they would have done the same "special"

people like Obama and care about what he does and his family. Its really that simple. It was a total fluff piece, because thats what NBC knew would bring in the viewers.


All the stuff about policy is not interesting to the vast majority of Americans who plop in front of a TV every evening. I wish it was though.

[hileeopnyn8d]

6. They did do the same

special. That's why all these claims of the media being "in his posket" are so ridiculous.

Inside the Bush White House with Tom Brokaw
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&vid=c67eb7bd-32d8-42c4-84e3-b405e101e5f0

Their website also has Clinton, GHWB, Reagan, Carter, Nixon and Truman from what I can see.

[hileeopnyn8d]

3. Was this any

different than the Inside the Bush White House, or any of the other previous Presidents? They've been doing these for awhile, I don't recall anything groundbreaking in the past either.

[KoKo]

5. I think we'd have to go back to NBC's reports on Chimp & Laura, Bill & Hillary

to know. It might be worth trying to dig out those reports. I wish Williams had linked on his website. Maybe he did and I just missed the links. Maybe they are out there on GOOGLE or YOU TUBE.

[hileeopnyn8d]

7. I found them

through Google and at MSNC. I can't watch them right now because I accidently disconnected my speakers the day before I fell down a flight of stairs. In other words, I'm not kneeling on the floor to plug it back in. LOL - It sucks because I also missed the the special on the Obama White House.

Hopefully they'll keep all the videos up for awhile.

[KoKo]

13. I'll search myself. Hope you are okay after that fall...

((good vibes))) to you !

[Drunken Irishman]

11. No. They're generally fluff pieces.

You're not going to really see how the president acts behind closed doors.

Pres. Obama isn't going to fight or debate policy in front of news cameras.

[Captain Hilts]

8. Froomkin's great. He's the only person worth reading on the WP's op-ed page. nt

[Diamonique]

9. I understand where Froomkin is coming from, but...

... these "Inside the White House" shows have never been more than fluff. They are what they are, and have never pretended to be anything else. This one was no different than the ones before it.

[Captain Hilts]

10. Coming so soon after the Pew report about the media and Obama, it was just bad timing.

http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/obamas_first_100_days

[KoKo]

14. That Pew Report is interesting in many ways. Thanks for posting it.

I think the two part piece with Williams shows that the Obama team has learned how to massage the press and to keep themselves always front and center. Pew report explains much of that.

[Captain Hilts]

16. That's how the game is played. it counts. nt

[Drunken Irishman]

12. How was the Five Guy's thing staged?

Maybe the timing was done for the sake of the cameras, but it isn't like Pres. Obama did it entirely for NBC. I mean, didn't he do another burger run a few weeks before? So it's not out of character for him to make these stops, right?

[KoKo]

15. Why shouldn't he have staged it? Nothing wrong there...after all the Great Cod Piece's

whole Administration was staged. Coming off the Bush/Cheny years our Dems felt that having the PR Machine running 24/7 was the way to go. An idiot was President for 8 years...due to Media Campaign. If we Dems didn't learn from that then we are truly hopeless. Should we praise this? No...but it is what it is these days.