On thin ice with the press

When Barack Obama ran for president two years ago, he advocated for change.

Obama’s administration is not only progressive politically, but it is progressive in many aspects, such as its method of gaining public support through so-called “new media” like Facebook and Twitter.

Recently, however, the administration has come under fire because the president has not held a press conference since July of last year, when he addressed the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates.

Press conferences are necessary for the American public to hold their president accountable. However, Obama and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs don’t seem to think so.

The president has delivered numerous speeches, participated in some interviews, sent out plenty of mass e-mails and updated his Facebook page religiously, but he has been increasingly unavailable to reporters.

So, it appears Obama was not lying about change. In fact, we are seeing it firsthand in the way he interacts with the press.

The White House seems to rely on in-house “journalists” rather than real ones.

Last week, the White House released a video of an interview with Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan that was conducted not by a member of the press but by a White House staffer.

Kagan has not participated in any other interviews and does not plan to, Gibbs said.

Though the White House is entitled to its voice and plan of action, like any organization, it is somewhat odd to see a press staff so intent on making, framing and giving its message out to the public without media participation.

The president is hurting his image by being less transparent. The news media have no material to work with, so the only option they have is speculation.

The last thing a president wants is for the media to speculate about why and how he makes decisions. A good rule of thumb for getting positive coverage and having good public relations is to be honest and open, two things this administration is having trouble with.

Obama, like many presidents before him, had the media in the palm of his hand for several months after his inauguration. Many journalists loved him, and many surely still do. But ignoring the numerous requests for an official press conference since July of last year is certainly not helping his cause.

So what can the administration do to stop the bad press?

The president should think about how important press conferences are.

If he wants to gain the trust of the media and the people again, he should call for an open press conference immediately to address any issues he hasn’t discussed with the media.

A move like that could really put the administration back on the media’s good side.

If the administration continues to ignore the requests for a press conference, Obama’s approval ratings will continue their slide, the news media will punish him for giving them the cold shoulder and his “in-house” news releases will be ditched.

The president can also expect more than a couple de-friendings on Facebook and most likely a precipitous drop in followers on his Twitter page.