Death of the Press Conference

by Kurt Hildebrand

Headway

What if losing the battle between the White House Press Room and the President was the best thing that ever happened to journalism in this country?

The press conference is as relevant to modern journalism as the grip and grin photo op. Information flows far more quickly than the talking heads who show up in a room and yell questions at people can keep up.

The White House Press Conference is theater, not journalism. It’s an opportunity for people with microphones to make themselves important by posing questions to people they consider more important.

Occasionally a breaking story comes out of a press conference, but typically it’s a matter of whoever’s hosting the conference trying to direct information, which in the Information Age is like trying to drink from a firehose.

The battle between Jim Acosta and the White House is resulting in the writing of what were unwritten rules between the press and the President.

That’s a good thing. Under Trump, the conference is more like a bullfight than a passing of information. Blood sport, entertaining, but essentially meaningless.

But what if the good journalists that attend these things suddenly had to find their own sources, their own means of finding stories that didn’t rely on asking a question in a big room full of people and cameras. What if instead of cooperating with the government, which is the essential nature of a press conference, they did what America’s founders intended when they guaranteed freedom of the press and speech.

Instead we have a president and a press in a mudslinging contest. “You’re fake news.” “The president doesn’t tell the truth.”

Maybe if the president is unreliable as a source it’s time to stop quoting him.

That seems unlikely under the circumstances, but instituting rules for the White House Press Corps is a two-edged sword, as the Nov. 16 court decision proved. That decision did nothing to uphold freedom of the press, but did uphold the right for someone not to have something taken from them by the government without due process.

Rules under which reporters may be ejected also means rules under which they may be required to stay.

And behind those rules is another nagging complication.

In order to determine the rules for the press corps, we also have to define whom or what constitutes a member of the press.

I have a press pass legitimately issued by a local authority, but I rarely require it, and more normally avoid using it, because it doesn’t really give me any more permission than any other person covered under the First Amendment.

If I assigned myself to the White House Press Corps, how could the White House reject me?

A better question is who might be covered under that definition.

If I have a Facebook Page where I regularly report on the news of the day or information from my neighborhood, am I a member of the press? I would argue that I am. What about someone with a blog who rants into the night about slights perceived or otherwise? What’s the difference under the First Amendment? Is there one, and who makes that determination?

The founders defined the press literally. With the advent of big broadcast media the lowercase noun “press” was replaced with the formal “Press.” But if someone takes to Twitter nightly to report news or opinion of some sort, is that person a member of the Press? What if that person happens to be the President? Is he then a member of the Press? What precedent does that set?

The questions multiply like recriminations at a Thanksgiving dinner.

Out in the rest of the country, most press conferences exist so television crews can set up their cameras and talking heads can repeat what someone official just said. Is it really better to have an official statement on something read to you as opposed to reading it yourself?

Maybe that time could be spent tracking down information that either confirms or refutes the official line, reporting that without fear of official reprisal.

Because what are they going to do? Take away your press pass?

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Kurt Hildebrand is an award-winning journalist and editor of The Record-Courier.