Her identify was Could Craig. And she or he was, doubtless, a journalist’s journalist.
Over the course of her reporting profession Ms. Craig had lined each World Conflict II and the Korean Conflict. Then she moved on to American politics.
All of that and he or she was unknown to the bigger American public outdoors Washington till the Kennedy period and the arrival of televised press conferences with the President and the then-White Home press corps.
Earlier than the arrival of the telegenic younger President John F. Kennedy, presidential press conferences had been carried out in Oval Workplace scrums with no tv. In truth, tv itself didn’t exist en masse till after FDR had come and gone from the White Home. And whereas his successors — Truman and Eisenhower — held press conferences, they had been decidedly not held on reside tv. The priority within the day was that it was too dangerous for an American President to be taking questions on reside tv. It was the daybreak of the terrifying nuclear age, and the assumption was that if the President misspoke, the implications could possibly be horrific.
However JFK felt that instances had modified. The 1960’s had been now right here, and so was reside tv. So he made a degree of fixing the foundations and for the primary time Individuals might witness a President being grilled by the press with no filter or modifying coming between the President and his viewers. JFK would motorcade over to an auditorium within the State Division, the place he relished what shortly grew to become a daily nationwide TV present.
(The White Home press room of at present happened solely within the Nixon period, when President Nixon ordered the well-known White Home swimming pool of FDR drained and lined over to accommodate the press. No small factor was that this eliminated the press from their earlier hangout within the West Wing foyer the place they may observe those that got here and went to see the President. Nixon would have none of that, and authorities contractors had been put to work constructing a flooring within the drained pool, and the press room of at present was born.)
The collaborating press of the Kennedy period was extremely conscious that reside tv didn’t simply cowl the President — it televised them as nicely. Thus they had been extraordinarily well-behaved. Not solely had been the American folks watching them. So had been their bosses. They shortly grew to become a sizzling new tv present.
Which is the place Could Craig got here in. She was edging in the direction of her aged years, however was by no means hesitant to ask her questions. Famously, on one event she stood up and politely accused the President’s administration of working towards “managed information,” asking why JFK felt the necessity to observe it. The President requested Craig what she felt she and the White Home press corps ought to be getting from his administration, to which she replied: “I believed we must always get all the things we wish.” The President smiled, nodded his head, and to the laughter of the press stated “I believe it is best to too, Miss Craig. I’m for that.”
I truly remembered this episode from watching it reside myself, geeky child that I used to be. Amazingly that second is now preserved on YouTube.
However the level right here? Distinction Could Craig’s respectful, well mannered query to JFK with this report on a current White Home press convention held by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
The headline:
Trump’s press secretary goes nuclear on journalist over ICE query: ‘You’re a left-wing hack’
The story in NJ.com stories:
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s Thursday briefing went off the rails as she clashed with a reporter who criticized the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who killed Renee Good.
The trade started with The Hill’s White Home columnist Niall Stanage questioning ICE’s techniques after an agent shot and killed Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. That prompted Leavitt to pose her personal query to the White Home columnist: ‘Why was Renee Good sadly and tragically killed?’
‘As a result of an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably,’ Stanage stated.
His response elicited a livid response from Leavitt.
‘Oh, OK. So that you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion. You’re a left-wing hack,’ Leavitt stated. ‘You’re not a reporter, you’re posing on this room as a journalist and it’s so clear by the premise of your query.’
Suffice to say, the gulf between Could Craig’s respectful backwards and forwards with JFK and the belligerent, decidedly politicized assault on Press Secretary Leavitt from that The Hill reporter is oceanic.
Craig was respectful and impartial in tone and substance. Stanage was significantly partisan, to not point out outright impolite.
Which fits to a a lot bigger level. Too many individuals protecting the Trump White Home, whether or not within the White Home or unfold throughout the media across the nation, usually are not about journalism. They’re about left-wing, anti-Trump activism — precisely as Leavitt stated.
Simply one of many issues with that is that down the highway, when Trump is lengthy gone from the White Home and a Democrat holds the Oval Workplace, the bottom has been laid for right-wing activists to additionally masquerade as journalists protecting the Democrat President and his/her administration.
Which is to say, the previous knowledge applies: “Watch out what you would like for.”
And if and when the day arrives that the White Home press room is crammed with conservative activists masquerading as journalists, you’ll know the place they acquired the concept.
