Press Relations Quotes
If men's minds were as easily controlled as their tongues, every king would sit safely on his throne
Spinoza’s ideas were considered so radical and dangerous that he was the only man in history who was excommunicated by the Catholics, the Jews and the Muslims.
This quotation illustrates two things. First, Mrs. Roosevelt always donated the fees and royalties from her books, newspaper column and radio shows. Second, it seems incredible to us today, that this first lady organized the social schedule of the White House, wrote a daily newspaper column for years, authored a number of books, and had her own radio show—all while she was First Lady. She had the additional role of traveling about the nation, observing and giving speeches and press conferences as a proxy for FDR whose polio handicap made traveling very difficult. She also wrote or orally reported to her husband the material aspects of each of her trips, although she was so open that he and everyone else could read about it in the newspapers. She did all this with a staff of only 2 people. There has probably been no one in the history American politics, perhaps other than Thomas Jefferson, who was so busy and productive.
This is one of the great examples of putting positive spin on a negative situation.
This is a great example of politically sophisticated oratory. The decision was that the crèche violated the constitution and the state opinion was split between those in favor and those opposed. A reporter asked the governor what she thought of the court decision. Her response not only amused the public and the press but completely avoided having to take a stand on the issue of religious symbols being exhibited on state property.
The President was with the way the press had handled some press releases from the White House and wanted to give the press less information.
It is amazing that so few politicians and political appointees when asked questions by constituents, subordinates, or the press can bring themselves to say “I don’t know” when they are ignorant about the issue or have not yet made up their minds. It is as if ignorance was a weakness. When the politicians have to face so many complex issues, the reality is that they do not know about most of them, yet they are loathe to admit ignorance in particular situations.
See {584897} for a quotation from the speech. Spinning and giving advance copies of speeches to the press is not the invention of the 20th century media-savvy political handlers. It was a standard practice even in the 19th century.
Addressing criticism that his candidate was not accessible enough to the press:
TR worked very hard for his press coverage. He literally met with the press every day—often several times. Daily, his barber had to cut and shave with the President talking to the reporters and answering questions. The only time he stopped talking was when the barber was shaving his chin or upper lip.
His admonition did little good. That Congress passed fewer bills than any other in history.
No Presient, before and perhaps since. was so effective with the press and the media. Yet Roosevelt did not use a basic technique of modern political presidential press techniques—that of always being “on message” and repeating the same point over and over. TR thought that would lead to loss of credibility and perhaps he was right because no one trusts what a modern President says today to the degree that TR was believed by both the press and the public.
These Maxims would be useful for any political campaign staff or government agency.
