Bush's Disdain For The News Media Puzzles, Angers Many Journalists

USA Today ^ | 12-22-2003 | Peter Johnson

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Lyndon Johnson got so angry watching Walter Cronkite's CBS Evening News that he'd call during the broadcast and demand to speak to the anchor right then, while Cronkite was on the air.

In person, Johnson would get right in Cronkite's face, sometimes lifting up The Most Trusted Man in America by his lapels.

"He was a strong man," says Cronkite, 87. "I was sure my suits would give way before he did."

Today, President Bush's relations with the media are no less tense than Johnson's were during Vietnam, Richard Nixon's during Watergate and Bill Clinton's throughout Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky affair.

But unlike his predecessors, analysts say, Bush openly brags about not reading newspapers, watching TV news or TV newsmagazines - dismissing the news media as unworthy of his time.

"I get my news from people who don't editorialize," Bush told ABC's Diane Sawyer last week. "They give me the actual news, and it makes it easier to digest, on a daily basis, the facts."

"It's the old MBA thing: 'Give me the five points, the nut graph,' " says veteran CBS White House correspondent Bill Plante. He says this is one of the most secretive administrations ever - highly distrustful of the media.

Bush's wife, Laura, told Sawyer she read newspapers and columnists and tells her husband what they are saying.

CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller says that getting the news from his wife or aides seems to work for Bush. "We very rarely catch him unaware of something in the way that we used to catch Ronald Reagan. He is a very well-informed president."

And a deliberate one. Questioned at a recent press conference about a critical New York Times editorial about Vice President Cheney, Bush dismissed that influential editorial page, saying he never read it. And at last week's ceremonies honoring the Wright brothers' first flight, Bush took a dig at the Times, noting that it opined after the first flight that man was not destined to fly. "He enjoyed that a lot," Knoller says. The Times had no comment.

Bush may in part be playing to people who have distrusted the media ever since the Watergate days, when Vice President Spiro Agnew railed against the media's "nattering nabobs of negativity."

Cronkite thinks Bush may be exaggerating how little attention he pays to the media. "It's a defensive move. It must be very hard to have every move you make put under the microscope."

But that goes with the job and "it's difficult to understand why a president who spends so much time promoting the virtues of democracy would want to insulate himself from one of democracy's most important institutions, namely, a free and independent press," says Stanford University journalism professor Ted Glasser.

"One of the great ways to learn about America is by reading a newspaper on your own, whether it's the letters to the editors or anything else," says Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. "It makes you wonder if the only people he is talking to are people who work for him or agree with him and whether everything he sees about America he learns through them or through the window of a motorcade. One of the few ways to not do that is to read a newspaper or watch TV."

Says Playboy editor James Kaminsky: "It's appalling to think that the man who runs the country somehow finds time for a long gym workout each day, but can't muster up the intellectual curiosity to peruse the newspaper. Is it laziness, arrogance or a willful combination of the two? Does the president really need a human filter to deliver only news the White House staff thinks he wants to hear? Do gossip items sometimes get thrown into the daily 'readings'? How about the funnies? How hard is it to watch the damn TV news, even while working out?"

[Metternich]

The indignant liberal press, so angry that the US political world no longer revolves around them.

Dear liberal reporter: Don't go away angry, just go away.

[mercy]

They really are that dumb. Affirmative action in the schools of journalism. NONE of read newspapers any more you idiots! There's no there there.

[MarkL]

Says Playboy editor James Kaminsky: "It's appalling to think that the man who runs the country somehow finds time for a long gym workout each day, but can't muster up the intellectual curiosity to peruse the newspaper. Is it laziness, arrogance or a willful combination of the two? Does the president really need a human filter to deliver only news the White House staff thinks he wants to hear? Do gossip items sometimes get thrown into the daily 'readings'? How about the funnies? How hard is it to watch the damn TV news, even while working out?"

Gee, I can't understand why the leader of the free world, who has direct access to national defense and intelligence briefings, wouldn't feel that he "needs" to read things written about himself by people who hate and try to belittle him... I can't imagine why President Bush would have contempt for those who have presented him to the world as a bumbing, barely literate fool who "stole" the White House from a true intellectual. I can't imagine why at all!

Mark

[King Black Robe]

They don't seem all that independent to me. They spew the DNC talking points like clockwork, frequently copying exact phrases. They aren't even particularly clever about it.

[hocndoc]

Did any of these people who dare to comment on the reading habits happen to mention that they have a financial interest in what they call the news?

[Inyokern]

Bush may in part be playing to people who have distrusted the media ever since the Watergate days, when Vice President Spiro Agnew railed against the media's "nattering nabobs of negativity."

WRONG. Agnew made that speech about three years before the Watergate scandal. And it was "nattering nabobs of NEGATIVISM."

No wonder Bush doesn't bother reading the papers.

[dr_who_2]

LBJ was a bit of a jerk, but I imagine listening to him ball out Cronkite on live television would have been enjoyable, especially if he could make old Walter cry.

[smoothsailing]

All those (Cronkite et al) are upset because they are out of the loop.

The White House, the Pentagon, our troops overseas, are all tuned to Fox News.

I do not pity Cronkite et al for being apoplectic.

Their demise is well deserved.

[Cultural Jihad]

But unlike his predecessors, analysts say, Bush openly brags about not reading newspapers, watching TV news or TV newsmagazines - dismissing the news media as unworthy of his time.

"I get my news from people who don't editorialize," Bush told ABC's Diane Sawyer last week. "They give me the actual news, and it makes it easier to digest, on a daily basis, the facts."

Most worthy of a repeat. Let the talking and scribbling heads whine and moan over their expanding irrelevancy.

[farmfriend]

They spew the DNC talking points like clockwork, frequently copying exact phrases. They aren't even particularly clever about it.

Yes, hard to argue with that one.

[VRWC For Truth]

But unlike his predecessors, analysts say, Bush openly brags about not reading newspapers, watching TV news or TV newsmagazines - dismissing the news media as unworthy of his time.

Hah, same as me, no surprise here. Media is in "we are not irrelevant" mode. Message to the media: See ya .... losers.

[GOPrincess]

This article was unintentionally hilarious. The idea that the President of the United States would learn anything substantive by turning on the TV news while on the treadmill is beyond funny. And quoting someone from Playboy was the best they could do? They must have been desperate for a negative comment.

[McGavin999]

Uh.....that should be apparently, but you guys knew that, didn't you?

[woodyinscc]

Great.!!!

I remember the press when they saw this, they were so arrogant, the message went right over their heads.

[Ronin]

"it's difficult to understand why a president who spends so much time promoting the virtues of democracy would want to insulate himself from one of democracy's most important institutions, namely, a free and independent press,"

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

[Green Knight]

This quote pretty much sums it up right here.

"One of the great ways to learn about America is by reading a newspaper on your own, whether it's the letters to the editors or anything else," says Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Talk about arrogant! The only way to learn about America is to be spoonfed by a newspaper editor. No thank you.

[Mr. Mojo]

Says Playboy editor James Kaminsky: "It's appalling to think that the man who runs the country somehow finds time for a long gym workout each day, but can't muster up the intellectual curiosity to peruse the newspaper. Is it laziness, arrogance or a willful combination of the two? ........ How hard is it to watch the damn TV news, even while working out?"

lol.....easy, Kaminsky. This guy sounds like he needs to be spending a little more time at the Mansion.

[Jackson Brown]

"It's appalling to think that the man who runs the country somehow finds time for a long gym workout each day, but can't muster up the intellectual curiosity to peruse the newspaper. Is it laziness, arrogance or a willful combination of the two?

I used to work for several newspapers, including the LA Times, Herald Examiner, the Washington Post, (and the Washington Star way back when). I KNOW what they do with the news...they slant/spin/arrange everything to fit their agenda. Even when they don't write it, they take wire stories where they aren't allowed to change anything (except the headline) and edit out ANY paragraph that doesn't "fit" their agenda.

Except for our VERY local "free sheet" that covers local town issues, I've not read a line in the newspaper since the Internet came along. Still, I guarantee that I know more about what's going on then 99% of people that read any "major" newspaper from cover to cover every day...including "journalists" that still work for those same papers. I'm sure there are many here that can say the same.

[Jackson Brown]

then 99%

that THAN, not then!

[cartoonistx]

You simply do not get that anywhere else. Thank you, Jim Robinson.

I concur! As a member of The Press I can tell you it's no small number of times that I am informed first, best and most thoroughly by FR. The others in the newsroom are still playing catch-up on issues and events days after I've heard "all about it"! I must also say THANK YOU, JIM ROBINSON!