Post by Scott Anthony on Jan 17, 2015 1:25:12 GMT
Mainstream Media personnel quick to fire barbs at this method:
Q And very quickly -- I know you announced before the briefing that the President is going to be doing these YouTube interviews or a YouTube with several different people after the State of the Union address. And just noticing that these folks who are going to be conducting these interviews are not professional journalists, they’re people who post videos on YouTube. And I'm just curious, was “Charlie Bit My Finger” or “David After Dentist” not available?
MR. EARNEST: I'm not familiar --
Q Maybe you haven't seen those videos.
MR. EARNEST: I don't think I have.
Q Does some of this suggest that maybe the State of the Union is not what it used to be and that you sort of have to jazz things up? Is that --
MR. EARNEST: I do know that there is at least one seasoned journalist who wrote an online story about this that had a headline to that effect.
I think what you can take away from this, Jim, is that it’s a variation on an engagement strategy that we've used in previous years. You’ll recall that in the aftermath of the State of the Union, the President has participated in Google+ Hangout with people from across the country. You know that the President has done YouTube interviews in the past. And this is just a variation on that theme. This is a way for the President to spend a little time talking about some of these issues that he’ll discuss in the State of the Union with individuals that have a large presence on YouTube.
And it certainly doesn’t take the place of the kinds of -- it doesn’t take the place of the news conference the President will be convening with all of you tomorrow. It doesn’t take the place of the public events the President will do after the State of the Union when he travels across the country to talk about some of the things that he'll discuss in the State of the Union address.
So this is part of an integrated communication strategy to make sure that the American people understand exactly what the President is fighting for in Washington, D.C.
Q And very quickly -- I know you announced before the briefing that the President is going to be doing these YouTube interviews or a YouTube with several different people after the State of the Union address. And just noticing that these folks who are going to be conducting these interviews are not professional journalists, they’re people who post videos on YouTube. And I'm just curious, was “Charlie Bit My Finger” or “David After Dentist” not available?
MR. EARNEST: I'm not familiar --
Q Maybe you haven't seen those videos.
MR. EARNEST: I don't think I have.
Q Does some of this suggest that maybe the State of the Union is not what it used to be and that you sort of have to jazz things up? Is that --
MR. EARNEST: I do know that there is at least one seasoned journalist who wrote an online story about this that had a headline to that effect.
I think what you can take away from this, Jim, is that it’s a variation on an engagement strategy that we've used in previous years. You’ll recall that in the aftermath of the State of the Union, the President has participated in Google+ Hangout with people from across the country. You know that the President has done YouTube interviews in the past. And this is just a variation on that theme. This is a way for the President to spend a little time talking about some of these issues that he’ll discuss in the State of the Union with individuals that have a large presence on YouTube.
And it certainly doesn’t take the place of the kinds of -- it doesn’t take the place of the news conference the President will be convening with all of you tomorrow. It doesn’t take the place of the public events the President will do after the State of the Union when he travels across the country to talk about some of the things that he'll discuss in the State of the Union address.
So this is part of an integrated communication strategy to make sure that the American people understand exactly what the President is fighting for in Washington, D.C.