Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 28, 1993 TAG: 9301280118
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
CLINTON LIMITS PRESS ACCESS
The White House press corps is "extremely unhappy" that the Clinton administration is barring them from areas where reporters have roamed freely in past presidencies.This denial of access - coupled with the live televising of daily news briefings - continues the Clinton team's practice of delivering its unfiltered messages directly into American living rooms.
Reporters are outraged at the new restrictions. One week after inauguration, any honeymoon between the new administration and the presidential press corps has been supplanted by acrimony and distrust.
"People are just extremely unhappy," said Karen Hosler, a Baltimore Sun reporter and president of the White House Correspondents Association. The new limitations make "a very difficult job" now "almost impossible."
George Stephanopoulos, President Clinton's director of communications, said the ban was imposed because he is more involved in policy matters than previous press secretaries, and he doesn't want journalists "loitering" around.
"They draw a distinction between their operation and the previous operation," said Carl Leubsdorf of the Dallas Morning News. He was among a group of reporters who met with Stephanopoulos to complain. "The problem is that their communications director is fulfilling many of the roles that a press secretary fulfilled before," Leubsdorf said.
For instance, Stephanopoulos conducts the daily news briefing, not press secretary Dee Dee Myers.
White House reporters, who spend long days in their cramped quarters adjoining the West Wing, say they need access to the administration's spokespeople. Unlike in Congress, the actual policy makers can rarely be reached in the White House.
"This isn't just Bill Clinton's operation we're talking about. It's the U.S. government," said Hosler. "There is a lot of stuff, great and small, that reporters need every day."
The ban is definitely a new approach, said Stephen Hess, an expert on the press and the presidency.
"Traditionally, a new administration starts by saying this will be the most accessible White House in history," said Hess. "They've started by saying, in effect, this will be the most closed White House in history."
But while the Clinton administration's methods are different, its goals are familiar.
"They want to go over the heads of the White House press corps, of course," said Hess. "That's nothing new. Every president at least since John F. Kennedy has wanted to do that."
During the presidential campaign, Clinton made effective use of what has been called "new news" media. He chatted with TV talk show hosts ranging from CNN's Larry King to the Nashville Network's Ralph Emory to Tabitha Soren of MTV. He played the saxophone on Arsenio Hall's late-night show and answered questions from Phil Donahue's studio audience.
White House reporters believe the president intends to continue this telecommunications end run.