Jellybean Journalism

...Washington-USA JELLYBEAN JOURNALISM BY ANDREW MOLLISON Washington Sitting in the basement of the small press building alongside the White House during a dieter's most agonizing period, 10 a m -1 p m , I try the "this-too-shall-pass" approach into sanity by smoking low-tar cigarettes and examining a 34-year-old photograph on the west wall of what was once the Presidential swimming pool The caption under the brown and gray print of short-haired, trench-coated, gesticulating gentlemen reads "Rio de Janeiro—Group of newsmen from Washington here have just landed and are engaged in argument with Secret Service representatives over ground rules Seven Presidents after Harry Truman' s 1947 trip to Brazil, I still know of —and, as it happens, participate in?arguments over the ground rules for relations between the Chief Executive and the White House press corps Covering the President is a rotten assignment a police beat without disenchanted cops, articulate victims, accessible villains, or pot-brewed coffee Iwouldn't stay on another minute if it were not for For what7 Money In terms of earnings, the salary puts me, like most of my 50 regular colleagues among the 1,700 officially accredited White House correspondents, in the top 5 per cent of the population Status Dad, Mom, Mary, Jim, Germaine, Tom, Patty and their kids back in Michigan might see me on the tube Neighbors' approval "The White House" is an unknockable answer to the question, "Whatcha on9" Professional satisfaction A story about the President saying anything gets better play than a story about anyone else saying what the President should do My list, I suppose, is in inverse order The point, though, is that none of its elements are irrelevant, or umque to me Maybe this explains why Ronald Reagan's decision to choose the interrogators for his second news conference by drawing index cards from the top of some jellybeans in a glass jar ignited a journalistic volcano The New York Times, which once prided itself on being the newspaper of record, ran a front page photo of the drawing, but no accompanying story The following day, its editors mysteriously omitted 19 items from the paper's transcript of Reagan's news conference the names the President called out of the reporters who asked the questions Without sarcasm or skepticism, I would venture that this had less to do with the fact that no Times reporter was chosen than with the paper's desire to avoid granting visibility to working journalists But the Times is too late Reporters long ago ceased to be merely recorders of events ABC's audacious Sam Donaldson?as leather-lunged as Dan Rather was before his anointment as Walter Cron-kite's replacement, and as aggressive as Cronkite before he became a CBS anchorman—boycotted the entire proceedings "The President has a right to recogmze whomever he wishes, but I think a lottery allows more parochial questions," Donaldson said "I objected to this all along, and didn't want ABC to take part I was overruled by the executives, which is their right " NBC' s Bill Lynch, after being chosen 40th and realizing he would have no chance to ask questions during the half-hour show, observed in exaggeratedly funereal tones, "It's the greatest blow ever struck against this old and venerable institution maybe the beginning of the end of the Presidential press conference " (My number was 24, close, yet out of the ball park ) Donna Smith of Oil Daily was literally breathless when she saw the results Finally, shegasped, "Oh, Jesus That's me We're in " Lester Ktnsolving, the 60-station Episcopal radio priest, also had a low number He congratulated Reagan for giving "the little people" a chance Kmght-Ridder's Saul Friedman, who can be counted on to disagree with any press corps consensus, opined, "The Andrew Mollison is the White House correspondentfor the Cox Newspapers White House has every right to make its life easier, and the press has every right to make its life easier I'm not excited about the lottery as long as it remains fair and square " More sensibly than most involved in the brouhaha, he added, "Changes in press conference coverage do not worry me as much as changes in access to the President and his staff So far this has not been very good under Reagan " Nevertheless, the Presidential news conference plays an important role in our political process And it is a uniquely American invention Witness the attitude of correspondents from Reuters and Agence France-Presse Accustomed to having British Prime Mimsters answer all questions initially m Parliament, and to having French Presidents schedule four to six conferences annually with questions planted in advance by the go v-ernment, they simply ignored the flap around them and played gin American Presidents once held news conferences twice a week, although Herbert Hoover slacked off whenreporters kept asking him about the Great Depression Subsequent Chief Executives have brought their personal predilections to bear on the "venerable institution " Franklin D Roosevelt was the first to answer questions that were not written out beforehand, but he refused to be quoted directly and frequently went "off the record " Harry S Truman's press conferences were not as newsworthy as his strolls, when he would toss answers over his shoulder with the same nonchalance that Senators exhibit today in their hallway interviews Dwight D Eisenhower played it safe, issuing edited transcripts for use by radio, television and newsreels The Presidential press conference underwent its most critical change with John F Kennedy's decision to allow live broadcasting That transformed reporters—their pose as "mirrors of the news" now exposed and discredited?into active, self-conscious participants Under Lyndon B Johnson—who once held three conferences in a single day, yet at another point went tour months without any—the sessions became opportunities to punish pi ess enemies and reward friends (through recognition) Richard Nixon's ratings in the polls rose after every news conference, but he was uncomfortable with the format and tolerated as few of them as possible, averaging about one every two months Omaha-born and Grand Rapids-bred, Gerald Ford wanted to give the local folks a break So in 1976 he arranged for a drawing in Indianapolis, with the traveling press getting the even numbers and the locals getting the odd Jimmy Carter maintained a twice-monthly schedule until the last 18 months of his downhill incumbency Then, following the example of his predecessor, he went back to the grass roots, this time concentrating on "town favor, he stuck by the rule The world did not crumble For his March conference, however, Reagan clearly went too far Onlythe53 reporters who happened to be at Brady's briefing the day before were able to enter the initial lottery, which filled 13 of the top 20 slots (with the first two slots automatically going to the American wire services) To prevent an empty house, questions 6, 9, 12, 15, and 20 were awarded at a "second chance' drawing just prior to the Friday press conference The fact that the earlier lottery was not announced gave the large news orgamzations a tremendous advantage over the small or nonestabhsh-ment outfits, since no sane Washington meetings" where awed members of the public could address questions while the press watched Reagan has decided to hold his conferences monthly, a pace that would make him the least accessible Chief Executive—aside from Nixon—since Calvin Coolidge In a further indication of the new President's style, Press Secretary Jim Brady announced before the February session that reporters who shouted or stood up would not be recognized Reagan is hard o f hearing, and apparently needed some way to avoid his campaign mistake ol almost alwa\s calling on the loudest questioners Except lor the moment when his California reflexes led him lo seek out a reporter who shouted Por bureau chief with fewer than six reporters assigns someone full-time to the White House Rewarding those who hang around for the daily briefings, no matter how noble the motivation, also discourages reportonal initiative This might help the Administration in the short run But eventually the White House press corps—already facing criticism from readers, viewers and editors tor being out of touch with popular concerns?will lose credibility and no longer be useful to the Piesident It that does not convince Reagan to drop his press conference schemes, possibh this coincidence will The three netw orks and three ot the maior New \ork and Washington papers lost out in the lottcn's first round...