WEBVTT - How Did White House Press Briefings Go From Daily to Done?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Lauren vogelbam here. In January, best selling novelists Stephen

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<v Speaker 1>King and Don Winslow took to Twitter to make a

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<v Speaker 1>surprising pledge. They offered to donate two hundred thousand dollars

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<v Speaker 1>to charity if Stephanie Grisham, the Press secretary for President

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<v Speaker 1>Donald Trump, agreed to take questions from the full White

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<v Speaker 1>House Press Corps for one hour in the White House's

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<v Speaker 1>press briefing room. The offer reportedly was rejected by Grisham, who,

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<v Speaker 1>since taking the job in June of nine, has yet

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<v Speaker 1>to hold even one formal White House press briefing. Her views,

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<v Speaker 1>expressed in an interview with the Sinclair Broadcast Group, is

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<v Speaker 1>that the briefings are unnecessary because reporters get opportunities to

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<v Speaker 1>put questions to Trump himself, sometimes over the roar of

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<v Speaker 1>the presidential helicopter on the White House lawn. For the

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<v Speaker 1>time being, at least, the Trump administration has abandoned what

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<v Speaker 1>had been an important part of White House Press Corps

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<v Speaker 1>routine dating back to the late eighteen hundreds, before the

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<v Speaker 1>official position of White House Press secretary even existed. That's

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<v Speaker 1>when President William McKinley set up a workspace in the

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<v Speaker 1>White House for reporters and sent his first personal secretary,

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<v Speaker 1>John Addison Porter, to give the correspondence what the White

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<v Speaker 1>House Historical Association notes were more or less regular briefings.

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<v Speaker 1>The White House press briefing gradually evolved into a formal event.

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<v Speaker 1>From the time of President Herbert Hoover in the late

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen twenties and early thirties to Lyndon Johnson's tenure in

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<v Speaker 1>the mid to late sixties, white House press secretaries held

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<v Speaker 1>twice a day briefing sessions in their own offices. According

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<v Speaker 1>to Martha joint Kumar's book Managing the President's Message, the

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<v Speaker 1>White House Communications Operation, Richard Nixon, though no fan of

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<v Speaker 1>the press, still thought the briefings were important enough that

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<v Speaker 1>he had a swimming pool torn out so that he

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<v Speaker 1>could convert the space into a meeting room for briefings.

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<v Speaker 1>That area is now known as the James Brady Press

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<v Speaker 1>Briefing Room, in honor of President Ronald Reagan's press secretary,

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<v Speaker 1>who was seriously wounded during the attempt on Reagan's life.

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<v Speaker 1>During Bill Clinton's time in the White House in the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen nineties, Press Secretary Mike McCurry decided to allow the

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<v Speaker 1>daily press briefings to be televised. That practice continued until

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<v Speaker 1>the Trump White House began barring cameras from briefings in

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<v Speaker 1>twenty seventeen, before discontinuing them altogether. We spoke via email

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<v Speaker 1>with FORMERCY and N White House correspondent Dan Lothian, who

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<v Speaker 1>spent five years covering the Bush and Obama administrations. He said,

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<v Speaker 1>I think the briefings were useful for a number of reasons.

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<v Speaker 1>First of all, it was an opportunity to get the

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<v Speaker 1>White House response or thinking on an issue on camera

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<v Speaker 1>rather than a written statement. It allowed us to gang

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<v Speaker 1>up on them around a question they might have been

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<v Speaker 1>trying to avoid, showing them dodge and answer is sometimes.

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<v Speaker 1>The news briefings also put statements on the record for

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<v Speaker 1>later comparison. Finally, every now and then there would be

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<v Speaker 1>breaking news, and as happened after a Summa bin Lauden

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<v Speaker 1>was caught lots of great details, even if some turned

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<v Speaker 1>out not to be true. Lothian, who went on to

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<v Speaker 1>found Little Park Media and to become a visiting caller

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<v Speaker 1>at the School of Journalism at Northeastern University, recalls that

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<v Speaker 1>the format for the briefings was fairly constant. He said

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<v Speaker 1>there was a certain order to who got called on.

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<v Speaker 1>Briefings always started with the associated press and ended with

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<v Speaker 1>a thank you from the Associated Press. Once in a

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<v Speaker 1>while the Press secretary wouldn't mix it up a bit,

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<v Speaker 1>but it usually happened around the same time each day,

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<v Speaker 1>and questions from the first two rows came in order.

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<v Speaker 1>We also spoke by email with Tom Jones, a senior

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<v Speaker 1>media writer for the Pointer Institute, a journalism education organization.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, while it's true that the president and his

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<v Speaker 1>representatives often make themselves available in informal settings such as

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<v Speaker 1>the White House lawn, it's not the same as press briefings.

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<v Speaker 1>The format of shouting out questions under the sound of

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<v Speaker 1>a whirling helicopter is not conducive to asking complicated policy

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<v Speaker 1>questions nor pertinent follow up questions. The frenzied free for

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<v Speaker 1>all of these. Much too brief informal interviews make it

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<v Speaker 1>much harder to get into the topics that require nuance

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<v Speaker 1>and specifics. It's so much easy for the president to

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<v Speaker 1>brush aside or ignore questions he doesn't like when he's

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<v Speaker 1>walking along the White House grounds, when he or one

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<v Speaker 1>of his representatives are standing behind a podium in a

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<v Speaker 1>controlled setting, they must face the questions that require long,

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<v Speaker 1>substantive answers, as opposed to the one or two short

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<v Speaker 1>sentences that suffice in those informal settings. That view, essentially

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<v Speaker 1>is shared by a group of thirteen former White House

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<v Speaker 1>press secretaries and foreign service and military officials who published

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<v Speaker 1>an opinion piece on CNN's website in January calling for

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<v Speaker 1>Trump to restore the regular briefings. In their view, having

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<v Speaker 1>to prepare for briefings helps the government to run better,

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<v Speaker 1>they wrote. The sharing of information known as official guidance,

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<v Speaker 1>among government officials and agencies helps ensure that an administration

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<v Speaker 1>speaks with one voice, telling one story, however compelling it

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<v Speaker 1>might be. Lothian also sees the apparent end of the

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<v Speaker 1>briefings as unfortunate. He said, it's a valid criticism that

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<v Speaker 1>some reporters use briefings to show boat. However, I think

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<v Speaker 1>when covering the White House, briefings are an important function

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<v Speaker 1>that allow the public and reporters to maintain daily connections.

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<v Speaker 1>Sometimes it's routine information, other times an odd question from

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<v Speaker 1>the back of the room can turn into the story

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<v Speaker 1>of the day. Even so, Lothian says journalists who cover

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<v Speaker 1>the administration will find a way to get stories. He

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<v Speaker 1>said this new normal might be unfortunate, but not paralyzing.

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<v Speaker 1>Reporters are in the business of getting information, whether it

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<v Speaker 1>comes from the mouth of a spokesperson or from sources

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<v Speaker 1>all across the Beltway. Today's episode was written by Patrick J.

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<v Speaker 1>Tiger and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is production

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<v Speaker 1>of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more on

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<v Speaker 1>this and lots of other informational topics, visit our home planet,

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