Politicians want to be presented by the media in the best possible light. Discuss news management and the different techniques that politicians and their staffs use to control news coverage. How has news management varied between presidents?

What will be an ideal response?


Ans: Politicians and their staff use news management to control what the media is talking about and the overall perception of the politician. News management techniques include tight control of information so as to control the conversation and the messages from the administration, tight control of access to the politician, having an elaborate communications bureaucracy, making an effort to bypass the White House press corps, prepackaging the news in sound bites, and coordinating leaks to gauge the public’s feelings on certain policies or plans. Richard Nixon implemented these news management techniques, Ronald Reagan’s public relations were smooth, while Bill Clinton’s were not so much. The George W. Bush administration did a great job of keeping the media attention directed to where they wanted it. The Obama administration broke the traditional news management techniques, but President Trump’s public relations have so far been unorthodox.

Political Science

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