Obama vs. The Media

Unconsummated Honeymoon: The Obama presidency not only ushers in a new era of politics, it also changes the playing field of traditional journalism's adversarial role. While Franklin Roosevelt introduced radio and John Kennedy television, Barack Obama will use the Internet to foist his policies on the American public. His transition team is developing plans to transfer his 10 million supporters condensed in the most extensive database ever designed to promote his programs from the White House. The task is risky. The far left blasted Obama during the campaign for his support of secret suspected terrorist domestic wiretap legislation promoted by the Bush administration. But, it also recognizes the diminishing influence because of advertising and circulation declines newspapers and television now play in setting the agenda in the nation's capitol. There still will be a honeymoon period between Obama and the first months of his administration by the so-called elite mainstream media. It will last until the first major screw-up whether it be a failed economic proposal or gaffe on foreign policy. The flames of Congressional Republican opposition fanned by right-leaning Fox News and conservative publications and blogs will be loud and prominent. Bill O'Reilly, the egomaniac Fox opinionator, promises to expose each and every misstep by the Obama administration, apologizing to his viewers he was too lax on the Bush people. Despite the blabbing by television pundits and newspaper columnists, the watchdog role of the media rests with the White House press corps. It is up to them to perform with diligence. If history is a measuring stick, they are adept at covering the political inner sanctums of the White House but shallow on complex substantive matters such as economic recovery and environmental intricacies. We will learn more than we want about the new puppy the Obama daughters adopt than how we pay for the $150 billion their father plans for new jobs in the green sector of the economy. History also tells us presidential/media honeymoons can be short-lived no matter whom the media darling may be. President Clinton learned that fast when his first decisions were the don't ask policy of gays in the military and naming the first lady to head a disastrous attempt at overhauling health care to a single-payer system. It will be a curious dynamic how Obama uses his base through the Internet to squelch opposition. According to the Washington Post: "The president-elect's transition website features a blog and a suggestion form, signaling the kinds of direct and instantaneous interaction that the Obama administration will encourage, perhaps with an eye toward turning its following into the biggest special-interest group in Washington. Once Obama is sworn in, those backers may be summoned to push reluctant members of Congress to support legislation, to offer feedback on initiatives and to enlist in administration-supported causes in local communities." But, the prevailing thinking is Obama's "going to screw up -- make some mistakes -- and those will give journalists the opening to get in his face a little bit," says media critic Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times. "Obama doesn't ingratiate himself with the press the way the classic John McCain did. He shows a willingness to manipulate them and shoulder them aside. If he continues handling the press that way, it's going to breed resentment, and that's going to produce tougher stories." The Obama campaign countered opposition views by manipulating the release of information through Internet media outlets such as Politico and Huffington Post. "One of the legacies of the campaign is the de facto death of mainstream newspapers and broadcast outlets as the key influences," says Jim Warren, former managing editor of the Chicago Tribune. "To what extent will the Huffington Post and MSNBC.com, perhaps, be the source of breaking news? There's a greater ability to control your message and to circumvent the traditional gatekeepers." With apologies to the creator of Pogo, we looked the enemy in the eye and he ain't us.