Lesson 10 Reading Summary
Reference: Banning, S. A., & Billingsley, S. (2007). Journalist Aggressiveness in Joint Versus Solo Presidential Press Conferences. Mass Communication & Society, 10(4), 461-478.
• Since George H. Bush, presidents have avoided solo news conferences more and more. They have found that these types of press conferences lead to adversarial attitudes by the media.
• Conducting interviews with other dignitaries and officials provides a setting in which the policies of the president are questioned less than if he were alone.
• George W Bush only conducted 15 solo press conferences during his 8 years as president. He also held conferences with little notice and during times where the press was less prepared to ask hard questions.
• Since the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower the study shows that questioning by reporters has become increasingly more aggressive.
• This study showed that follow up questions correlate to a more aggressive line of questioning. A 20% increase in follow up questions was noted in solo conferences as opposed to joint.
• The study also showed a 45% increase in hostility from reporters during solo conferences.
Application to the lesson topic:
Press Conferences can be very useful and can give a lot of information. They can also play a large role in politics and the attitude of the public.
Application to emergency services:
As emergency managers it is doubtful that we will face the same scrutiny as the president of the United States of America. We still must realize that reporters have their own agenda at times and we must take control of the press conference by setting our departments up for success. We are representing our organization. Any mistakes we make will be reflected on them.
While single interviews are can demand more information, group press conferences are getting more and more intense. The questioning at press conferences is becoming more agitated and hostile towards the interviewee. People are having to reinvent their methodology for answering questions to deflect any negative attention. Things like preparing to answering unwanted questions are ways that you can prepare for a brutal press conference.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that the media uses a certain technique these days that adversarial and can turn a press conference into a nightmare for the PIO. It seems to stem from the "Nixon presidency, that reporters may have become less trusting. . ." (Burriss, 1989 via Professor John Fisher)
ReplyDeletePersonally, I believe that it is easier to be interviewed when in the company of others. Maybe that is a way of presidents in this age and time to not be caught up unprepared by the media. For that matter, I disliked how President Obama did not have an immediate news conference on typhoon Haiyan, but intermingled that disaster with Obama Care. I didn't think that that was very professional of him.