In the 1950s, under President Dwight Eisenhower, the briefings went on the record – and were televised for the first time.Īmericans tuned in, and the major networks aired them. ”He would joke about their cheap suits, and their social lives, and their drinking, and their golf,” describes Holzer. FDR is also known for transforming the president-press relationship by knowing when to take a lighter tone with reporters. These meetings, like all previous presidential press conferences, were off-the-record, providing an opportunity for the administration to soften or spin previously shared information. Franklin Roosevelt typically held conferences twice a week during the second World War and the New Deal. National crises tend to result in more press briefings. During the pandemic, the organization has operated on a rotating schedule. Today, among other logistics, the group is in charge of who has a seat in the briefing room. In part to prevent Wilson from ending his press briefings, a group of journalists formed the White House Correspondents’ Association. He would get testy at times, as President Trump does, and he would say, that’s a ridiculous question,” says Harold Holzer, Director of Hunter College’s Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. “They weren’t exactly jolly or spontaneous affairs. One hundred twenty five showed up, so he made a speech, and the practice stuck. Shortly after Woodrow Wilson came into office in 1913, he invited reporters to a gathering, hoping to speak to each individually. That’s why you used to work with the Times and now you work for somebody else.”īut this tension isn’t entirely out of character with the century-old practice of the presidential press conference. When Alcindor asked him about comments he’d made about ventilators, Trump responded, with the two talking over one another: “No one trusts the media anymore. Things often got heated.ĭuring a clash with PBS NewsHour reporter Yamiche Alcindor, Trump attacked her credentials, a routine occurrence between the President, who often calls the media the “fake news,” and journalists. The traditional press briefing hasn’t appeared to be President Trump’s preferred way of communicating, but during the early weeks of the pandemic, he took to the podium almost daily. Generally, the presidential press conference is looked at as a forum for the press to keep leaders in check and for our presidents to explain policy decisions to the public. Throughout our nation’s history, our leaders have had different takes on the presidential press conference – its purpose, its political usefulness, and its frequency. It was a shift in traditional press briefing behavior that resulted in at least two national news networks cutting away from the campaign-style speech. On Tuesday, President Trump held a press briefing in the Rose Garden with the purpose of outlining a new executive order on trade with Hong Kong – but he quickly pivoted into political attacks on presumptive Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden.
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