Packaging the President: what the public sees of the nation's chief executive is carefully manipulated by the spin doctors at the White House.A somber, dark-suited President George W. Bush cuts through row on row of stark white crosses in Normandy, France. He stands so close to that other George's carved-rock face at Mount Rushmore that he seems already immortalized there. In China, the most populous nation on earth, he and his wife, Laura, smile all alone on the Great Wall. The pictures are striking--and no accident. If you've ever wondered why photographs of the President turn out so much better than the ones in your family scrapbook A Macintosh disk file that holds frequently used text and graphics objects, such as a company letterhead. Contrast with "clipboard," which is reserved memory that holds data only for the current session. , it may be because the Bush White House--like its predecessors--works overtime to guarantee the most flattering images possible. In fact, these pictures have a special name. They're not just photos. They're "photo opportunities," photo-ops for short, a term coined more than 30 years ago by Ron Ziegler, press secretary for President Richard M. Nixon, whose staff institutionalized in·sti·tu·tion·al·ize tr.v. in·sti·tu·tion·al·ized, in·sti·tu·tion·al·iz·ing, in·sti·tu·tion·al·iz·es 1. a. To make into, treat as, or give the character of an institution to. b. the practice. WHEN REALITY WASN'T VIRTUAL Once upon a time, news photographers had the kind of access to Presidents and other politicians that let them capture spontaneous reality (even if they often protected their subjects in exchange). Franklin D. Roosevelt, who led the country through the Great Depression and World War II, was paralyzed par·a·lyze tr.v. par·a·lyzed, par·a·lyz·ing, par·a·lyz·es 1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic. 2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. from the waist down by polio and needed a wheelchair or heavy leg braces to move around. But most of the public never knew, because the press never showed them. Some Presidents just couldn't avoid the camera's unflattering glare. Lyndon B. Johnson, who was President during the Vietnam War Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. , once decided to prove his health by pulling up his shirt to show off the scar from gall-bladder surgery. In the mid-1970s, President Gerald R. Ford managed to trip in public just often enough to give a young comedian named Chevy Chase Chevy Chase (chĕv`ē), town (1990 pop. 8,559), Montgomery co., W central Md., a residential suburb of Washington, D.C.; founded as a village, inc. 1914. and a new TV program called Saturday Night Live This article is about the American television series. For the show related to Big Brother (UK), see Saturday Night Live (UK). Saturday Night Live (SNL lots of good material. CHOOSING THE VIEW Gradually, however, through a combination of heightened security concerns and determined effort to control what the public sees, presidential aides have penned up photographers in smaller spaces, all but guaranteeing that they will use the camera angle and backdrop the White House wants. That usually means big flags, majestic mountains, beautiful beaches, smiling children, uniformed troops, helmeted firefighters, soaring skyscrapers, and a blue-and-white Boeing 747 better known as Air Force One. Nine times out of 10, the tactic works, because it produces such terrific pictures. Every White House has at least one person whose main job is to worry about such things. Josh King had the impressive title "director of production for presidential events" under Bill Clinton, and worried about camera angles from the Grand Tetons to the World War II beaches of France. FINDING THE RIGHT SPOT "The world sees your candidate through the lens of a TV or still camera, filtered by the folks laying out the paper or editing the package," King says. "So you always try to think from their perspective and provide a tableau to match their needs. And then you manage the geometry of the exact spot you designate for the cameras and the line between that spot, your candidate, and the things that are happening around and behind him or her. The result should be a newsworthy news·wor·thy adj. news·wor·thi·er, news·wor·thi·est Of sufficient interest or importance to the public to warrant reporting in the media. news composition." Every so often an unflattering image still crops up. In 1992, the first President Bush vomited and fainted at a state dinner in Japan, and the episode was captured on videotape. The video was taken by a stationary camera that was supposed to tape the dinner speeches and the toasts--but nothing else. When a technician viewing a monitor in another room saw chaos erupting e·rupt v. e·rupt·ed, e·rupt·ing, e·rupts v.intr. 1. To emerge violently from restraint or limits; explode: My neighbor erupted in anger over the noise. 2. in the ballroom, he turned on the recorder and preserved a bit of history that the White House would have liked to forget. 1. Bush walks through the American Cemetery in Normandy, France, on a Memorial Day visit. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 2. Bush is silhouetted against an American flag during midterm mid·term n. 1. The middle of an academic term or a political term of office. 2. a. An examination given at the middle of a school or college term. b. midterms A series of such examinations. election campaigning in South Carolina South Carolina, state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW). Facts and Figures Area, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. . [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 3. Against a backdrop of Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lincoln, Bush speaks at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota South Dakota (dəkō`tə), state in the N central United States. It is bordered by North Dakota (N), Minnesota and Iowa (E), Nebraska (S), and Wyoming and Montana (W). . [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 4. Bush speaks on health core at a White House-organized organized economic forum in Texas. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 5. The first President Bush proclaimed him-self the "Education President," a point underscored in a 1992 visit to Pennsylvania. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 6. President John Kennedy tossed out the first baseball of the 1961 season. No one knew that he was in almost constant pain, [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 7. After the Pearl Harbor attack Pearl Harbor attack (Dec. 7, 1941) Surprise aerial attack by the Japanese on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu island, Hawaii, that precipitated U.S. entry into World War II. In the decade preceding the attack, U.S. , President Franklin Roosevelt was depicted walking out of the Capitol the public was largely unaware that his legs were pralyzed. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 8. Presidentt Lyndon Jonson pulls up his shirt to show reporters the scar left when his gall bladder gall bladder, small pear-shaped sac that stores and concentrates bile. It is connected to the liver (which produces the bile) by the hepatic duct. When food containing fat reaches the small intestine, the hormone cholecystokinin is produced by cells in the intestinal was removed. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 9. President Gerald Ford was relentlessly lampooned as a klutz error he dipped while deplaning from Air Force One. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] How Spin Doctors Carefully Manipulate the People's Image of Their Presidents DISCUSSION QUESTIONS * Do the presidential-packaging practices described in this article deceive the American people An American people may be:
* How much information about a President's health does the public have a right to know? TEACHING OBJECTIVES To help students understand spin control and the image-elevating practices that are designed to present Presidents in the most favorable light. CLASSROOM STRATEGIES CRITICAL THINKING: Review the remarks of Josh King, director of production for presidential events under President Bill Clinton. Note that he uses the term "candidate" when talking about how to position a President before the TV or still camera. Ask: Did packaging emerge because Presidents are always campaigning? Remind students that pollsters constantly measure presidential popularity. Do flattering images boost Presidents' popularity, and thus their influence with Congress and other world leaders For a list of heads of state, see . World leaders is a MMORPG. The game involves creating a state, joining an alliance and going into war. It is mostly played by players from Israel, China, USA, Britain, Brazil and Saudi-Arabia. ? IMAGE ANALYSIS/SPIN: Have students study the photos. Then tell them to pretend they are working on a White House photo album. Their job is to write a positive-sounding one- or two-line caption for each photo, including the unflattering images of Presidents Johnson and Ford. IMAGE ANALYSIS/RESEARCH: Have students collect four or five photos of President Bush in newspapers or magazines and bring them to class. How do these photos compare with those in this article? Do they show the President as friendly, assertive, or commanding? Do any photos show the President caught off-guard? SCENE SETTING: Ask students to imagine they are in charge of arranging a presidential visit to their community. Their job is to make certain that everything looks right in news photos. What would be the best setting for the speech? A school? A government building? A park? What advantages and disadvantages are there to photographing the President in one setting as opposed to another in their community? These advance workers must also decide who meets and is photographed with the President. The mayor or governor are a given. But the President should also be seen greeting average people. Which three or four categories of people would help present the most appealing image? Senior citizens? Children? Police officers? Factory workers? Students should explain their choices. Upfront QUIZ 2 MULTIPLE CHOICE DIRECTIONS: Circle the letter next to the correct answer. 1. The White House has a special name for the way it stages settings to present the President in the most flattering manner. These events are called a presidential experiences. b public affairs Those public information, command information, and community relations activities directed toward both the external and internal publics with interest in the Department of Defense. Also called PA. See also command information; community relations; public information. advances. c Oval Office opportunities. d photo opportunities or photo-ops. 2. The practice of presenting the President in the most flattering manner was pioneered during the presidency of a Woodrow Wilson. b Richard Nixon. c Herbert Hoover. d Jimmy Carter. 3. Which athletic-looking 20th-century President was in fact dependent on drugs to alleviate pain? a Bill Clinton b John F. Kennedy "John Kennedy" and "JFK" redirect here. For other uses, see John Kennedy (disambiguation) and JFK (disambiguation). John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917–November 22, 1963), was the thirty-fifth President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in c Jimmy Carter d Harry S. Truman For other persons named Harry Truman, see Harry Truman (disambiguation). Harry S. Truman (May 8 1884 – December 26 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953); as vice president, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. 4. Even the best-laid presidential plans can fail. In 1992, the first President Bush was caught on camera a smoking. b yelling at an aide. c reading a comic book comic book Bound collection of comic strips, usually in chronological sequence, typically telling a single story or a series of different stories. The first true comic books were marketed in 1933 as giveaway advertising premiums. . d vomiting vomiting, ejection of food and other matter from the stomach through the mouth, often preceded by nausea. The process is initiated by stimulation of the vomiting center of the brain by nerve impulses from the gastrointestinal tract or other part of the body. and fainting: 5. In a much more flattering pose, the first President Bush was perfectly positioned next to a large sign identifying him as the a Education President. b Commander in Chief. c friend of firefighters. d leader of the free world The "Leader of the Free World" is a title used sometimes to describe the President of the United States, though the title is debated by those who consider themselves to be part of the "Free World", but not under the leadership of the United States. . 6. Which Democratic President was caught on camera displaying a surgical scar? a Lyndon Johnson b Bill Clinton c Franklin D. Roosevelt d Harry S. Truman ANSWER KEY 1. (d) photo opportunities or photo-ops. 2. (b) Richard Nixon. 3. (b) John F. Kennedy. 4. (d) vomiting and fainting. 5. (a) Education President. 6. (a) Lyndon Johnson. TODD S. PURDUM is a Washington correspondent for The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times. |
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