Last month, the White House press corps exploded in frustration over its lack of access to President Obama–an incident set off by the president’s private golf outing with Tiger Woods. While choosing this episode to cite may have trivialized reporters’ concerns, their complaint touched on the real problems associated with a “new normal” in the journalist-newsmaker relationship.
Politicians no longer need reporters to generate publicity or get their message across to the public. If President Obama wants to share his golfing experience, for instance, with the public, a member of his communications team can simply post a photograph to the White House Web site without the press. He can have complete communicative control over the situation, and without the reporters, he can choose to keep an outing low-key if he so desires. With the advent of social media and more sophisticated political communication structures, elected officials and candidates alike can speak/tweet/Facebook directly with constituents and voters, circumventing the traditional news media.
Looking at the graph above from the Pew Research Center’s State of the News Media 2013 report, one can see statistically how journalists are losing much of their importance to politicians’ messaging. Journalists and politicians used to be mutually dependent on each other. Journalists needed access to write, and politicians craved coverage for exposure. Now, politicians can exist to some extent without the press, at least once they are established figures. While the golf example may not be the best for reporters to use in terms of generating public outrage over transparency, journalists face a legitimate issue. How can political journalism exist as a profession when politicians ignore reporters? And more importantly, how can politicians be held accountable if they can avoid the press? For more on this new data, check out The Washington Post’s blog, “The Fix,” by Chris Cillizza.
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