Mixed Messages p.

By: Debra Gersh

President Clinton praises newspapers in a speech but later bristles over a story he describes as an 'abject lie'
PRESIDENT CLINTON told a group of newspaper editors he thought coverage of his administration was "good," but when later asked about a reported incident at the White House, he bristled and noted that "rumormongering" does "little to advance the public interest."
The incident reportedly involved a general at the White House who was told by a staffer there that she cared little for the military.
That alleged exchange, reported in the Washington, D.C., papers and elsewhere, also was mentioned by former presidential candidate Ross Perot the day before.
Both Perot and Clinton made their comments last week during the American Society of Newspaper Editors annual conference. Perot spoke at the convention hotel in Baltimore, and Clinton at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Clinton called the story an "abject lie," and said people who run such "gossip" ought to be ashamed. Published reports, however, indicated that the general confirmed the story.
"I don't think we ought to be out here rumormongering. That does little to advance public interest," the president said, also chastising Perot for his criticisms from the podium.
In earlier remarks, however, Clinton recognized that when "any freedom is enshrined in the Constitution, it is as certain as the sun will rise it will be abused.
"Freedom of speech is abused every day," Clinton said, but "that is the price we pay for freedom."
Paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson, Clinton noted that, if given the choice between government and freedom of the press, he would choose the latter.
"Great strength in the face of criticism is sometimes the greatest test of democracy," he added.
Nevertheless, the president said, "on balance," coverage of his administration "has been remarkably fair and thorough."
His "only frustrations relate far more to the commercial imperatives" than with any unfairness.
For example, Clinton said he saw a survey that asked whether people thought he was spending enough time on the economy and health care. The results showed people thought he was not spending much time on the economy, he said, yet that is what occupies most of his time.
The reason for this perception is that the health care issue is under intense scrutiny from the media.
Further, he continued, because of the emergence of CNN and other outlets that give people "direct access to facts . . . there is more pressure than there used to be to find a unique angle, a twist."
That new challenge, Clinton said, has "changed the dynamics of how we relate to each other."

Clinton's media strategy

If any ASNE attendees had doubts about those new dynamics, they were due for a wake-up call when during another session Clinton media adviser Mandy Grunwald explained how the administration targets new media.
Stressing that the new positioning does not mean a loss for the traditional media, Grunwald explained that during the campaign strategists found Clinton thrived on the longer, informal format, such as talk shows. The approach became known as the "Arsenio Strategy."
The campaign also took Clinton and his message to media that reached certain voters?such as MTV for young voters?who do not read newspapers, explained Grunwald, a political media consultant at Grunwald, Eskew & Donilon.
Although the president has been criticized for not holding more White House news conferences, it is not because he is afraid of answering questions, she said.
Grunwald contended that the White House press corps tends to ask questions that are irrelevant to people, so the president instead picks forums where he can talk to Americans directly about the economy, for example.
Regional and national press are not viewed as negative or positive, but rather by how useful they are, she added, noting that a great many stories, such as the military base closings, are more regional in nature so media there are targeted.
"We need repetition, you need news," she noted, pointing out that this creates some tension.
The role of the traditional press in the future will likely change, perhaps to an investigative or analytical position, but, in four years, it will be an all-new world again, Grunwald explained.
One outlet that emerged as an unlikely force during the campaign was MTV. From covering the party conventions to hosting an inaugural ball, the cable channel known for running music videos brought young people into the political process.
MTV news is not supposed to replace traditional news, but it is connecting with young people who do not otherwise feel they are being reached, according to Judy McGrath, executive vice president and creative director for MTV.
News on the cable channel really came into its own during the Gulf war, she said.
"Our audience was fighting it or protesting it," McGrath explained. "Our viewers had opinions. We wanted to give them a voice."
MTV's "Choose or Lose" campaign during the election was developed in the face of uninterested young voters who were dropping off and who felt left out.
All three candidates were asked to participate, but only Clinton responded right away. Perot wanted to buy their research, and Bush was not interested. Only at the end, McGrath said, did Bush and Perot participate.
Young people, however, were not the only ones who began participating again.
Calling 1992 "The Year of Reconnecting the Public," researcher Richard C. Harwood said it would be "a march of folly to believe any one candidate or any one media" was responsible.
With all this reconnection, however, there still are things being done to keep people away. Harwood, president of the Harwood Group and not the former Washington Post ombudsman of the same name, outlined four.
One is the prevailing wisdom that issues need to be fragmented and then "dumbed down" further, which runs opposite of how the public draws connections between issues and broadens them, Harwood explained.
Another is the "world of experts" the public sees, people who are speaking a language they do not understand and who present sterile facts and figures without explaining the "whys." These experts are not making the news relevant to people, Harwood said.
In addition, reporting personality conflicts and bad news without explaining what can be done about it paralyzes people. They see the debate as not going anywhere.
Fourth, Harwood explained, people feel a general sense of disconnectedness with the community, between themselves and their own neighbors. The media must make issues a common challenge, because citizens of a community will use the paper more.
So what can be done? Harwood suggested that newspapers concentrate more on connectedness, on how people, not experts, view issues; paying more attention to context, how an issue fits into someone's life; giving people more room to be ambivalent on issues, since forcing them into boxes turns them off and gives them no room to learn; and including a sense of possibility in stories, not necessarily solutions, but examples of how others are making a situation better.