Changing Role of the Media

by: madtwomey

Sun Apr 18, 2010 at 17:55

We all know that recently, the White House and President Obama have been getting a lot of flack from the Press Corps, and other news media.

The Huffington Post reports that Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responding to the allegation that the Obama administration "plays" to the cameras, by saying, "I think we all are. There are so many issues that we're dealing with that are hard to boil down to 20 seconds."

And when the President went to his daughter's soccer game, and didn't inform the Press Corps--the reporters got very angry.

As a student of both politics and media, and a fellow journalist, I understand their anger over the issue. They feel that it is their duty as the Watchdogs, to follow Obama's every step. It is for the sake of the American public. But in the age of the Internet, of smartphones and Twitter, the Press Corps and other traditional media are becoming less important. Why would President Obama give a press conference (heeding questions of reporters, and being analyzed in later news coverage) rather than doing a video-blog and posting it on his website? It's an easy answer. While the media believes it needs to keep the White House in check, the President and his administration find it a better allocation of time to "go public" to his supporters. This way, Obama's message isn't jumbled by the news.

Again, I'm not saying the news media aren't important, and I'm not saying I don't respect what they do. I just think it's important to understand where the administration is coming from.