Spinning thoughts, or thoughts on spinning, and how politics has changed

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I've been picking through a book that my wife, a former journalist, had on the shelf, called Breaking the News. I believe it was published circa 1996 (mid-Clinton era, so it was before the Internet took off, much less having anything on Bush/Rove).

What they observed was this - in the "old days" people got their daily news from two sources - newspapers and broadcast news (5 or 6 o'clock news, and "details at 11"). Short of reporting on a catastrophe, there were usually established deadlines to make it into the news cycle.

Reporters could think about what they were writing, get it into print, politicians could have at least a day to figure out their response - maybe more - and get their response into the next news cycle they were ready for. Then, of course, the response to their response would take at least another cycle, so things moved at a more measured pace.

CNN opened for business in 1980 (it was originally derided as "Chicken Noodle News", believe it or not, iff you remember) and no one really believed you could fill the airwaves with news 24 hours a day, but it came into its own by 1991 with its coverage of the first Gulf War. Pretty soon it really was news 24 hours a day, and everyone wanted to be the first to report, and because they needed to feed the machine, anything was news, and if politicians didn't respond immediately, the channels would come up with their own speculation on what was going on, or why there wasn't a response yet, or anything - and report on the most minor things. Unlike a newspaper or a traditional broadcast news report, there were no constraints on column inches or time, and so anything goes - the more the better.

The impact on how major government departments worked was notable. Instead of possibly spending a little time during the day before news cycle deadlines crafting a response, suddenly the phones were ringing constantly for a response on this or that event or gossip or whatever. Times to craft responses were now measured in hours, minutes, maybe in seconds, and failure to do so meant the media might come up with its own interpretation, and that might not be anywhere near as kind. It became more important to respond to the phone than to do your actual work.

As a result, government departments - with the White House being ground zero - found themselves not working, but having to spin - or just explain - to get the message right, lest someone do it for them.

As I said, the book was published mid-Clinton era, so Clinton was the first real test of this new era, and of the importance of managing the message. Being first in this intense environment made for some rocky fits and starts, and it's no surprise it took them a while, but by the end, obviously, the media had a life of its own.

I would like to hear what the author would have to say about Karl Rove and the Bush administration. By the time they took (perhaps literally "took", but that's another story) office, they'd had a number of years to study the new media cycles and how the Clinton administration managed (or mismanaged) their public message. In this light, it should come as no surprise that the Bush White House was scrupulously on message for many years.

Unfortunately, they chose to use the opportunity, imho, for evil rather than good, but regardless, this provides an interesting insight into their insistence on managing every little instance of message, because they saw how easily it can get out of hand.

Hillary and Bill, now, have had a chance to learn from their experience, and from what they saw from the current administration, and if they are in office, no doubt they will have a tight hold on the message. You see much of that in the campaign already. If Obama is in, we'll have to see. He's not getting any heat right now, so if he gets the nomination it'd be interesting to see if his political machine can deal with it through to November.

So, a lot of this shrillness and unseemliness is really a culmination of two things - the increasing conservative control over the media, and the need to fill the airwaves with any accusation - valid or not - requiring some instant response. If it sounds like it's news, toss it on. Minutes are cheap. Reaction is priceless.

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1. Except that same Clinton team is complaining they can't get their message out now.

And, please, some of us have SEEN how Clintons USE a spin cycle when it attacks other Dems but we never saw them use it to attack Bush and Rove the last 7 years did we?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk1k0nUWEQg