Adding More Twitter to the White House Press Mix
BY Nancy Scola | Tuesday, February 16 2010
"Watch out Kim Kardashian!" That's White House Press Secretary-turned-Twitter convert Robert Gibbs. Politico's Mike Calderone has a good story wrapping up White House denizens' forays into tweet land, with Gibbs (@PressSec) joining Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton (@billburton44) and New Media Director Macon Phillips (@macon44) in setting up "official" Twitter accounts.
There's a masters thesis for some communications student laying in wait on how the Obama White House has been navigating their relationship to the press. Much of it is new and never done before by a American presidency. For one thing, probably not enough attention has been paid to how this White House has turned the White House Blog into a weapon for pushing back against narratives ("Clearing Up the Bonuses Issue"), tweaking critics ("Newt Gingrich Gets it Wrong"), while also shining some sunlight on the officials, policies, and work that they'd like attention to be paid to ("Making Moves for a Healthier Generation"). The world of journalism has, generally speaking, embraced the idea that sometimes a blog post works where an article doesn't. It was probably only a matter of time until the White House figured out that press releases and press conferences aren't the only arrows in the quiver anymore.
It's worth noting that this White House seems gripped up the desire to avoid the White House press corps if they can just figure out how. Perhaps Twitter is the solution? Their embrace of new media seems marked more by a desire to break up with the established press and start going steady with the public rather than an interest in a more open relationship. Listen to how Phillips describes Gibbs' new use of Twitter in Calderone's piece: "He's able to communicate with the public now and CC the press corps." Sure they appreciate getting a copy!
The AP has a nice piece on the White House's on-going attempt to reinvent their communications strategy.