How Obama manipulates the media

Jim VandeHei and Mike AllenPolitico.com

“President Barack Obama is a master at limiting, shaping, and manipulating media coverage of himself and his White House,” said Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen. Not because a liberal media willingly gives him a pass, but because this White House has strongly cut back on reporters’ access to the president, while exploiting social media and other technologies to ruthlessly control its message. The results are both “transformational” and dangerous. The White House press corps, which has the background to ask the toughest and most informed questions, is now denied direct access to Obama, his Cabinet, or other top officials. Months go by without a real press conference. The administration, meanwhile, churns out plenty of flattering “content” of its own—photos, social media messages, and interviews with naïve journalists—and feeds it to hungry TV and websites. Professional reporters are bypassed like never before—a tactic future presidents are sure to copy. As major media companies shed resources and wane in influence, “the balance of power between the White House and press has tipped unmistakably toward the government.”