Hail To The Chief: Covering The President
I have been fortunate enough to have covered at least one event involving every president since Richard Nixon. Some of the people I work with were not even alive when Nixon was president. Their mom and dad were probably still in elementary school when I was hauling around a bulky tape recorder on the field at Neyland Stadium.
Richard Nixon came to Knoxville during the week the bombing started in Cambodia. His staff apparently thought that an apppearance at a Billy Graham Crusade in the southeastern U-S would be a safe venue for him to deliver a speech. Wrong. There were protesters. Most of them were outside the stadium, but as I remember around twenty or so managed to get into the crusade and to some extent disrupt the president’s speech.
Things were so different then. We could walk to within a few feet of the president, standing nearly beside his Secret Service detail. Things change. Attempts on the president’s life caused the biggest change in security until September 11th. But it was still an interesting if not grueling day when the cheif executive came to town. You could still enjoy parts of it and the spectacle was always something to talk about.
But the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington made covering the president one tremendous hassle. I covered the opening of the Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta on its dedication day. All of the former presidents and the president himself were there. Security was understandibly intense. But that even pales in comparison with what is done in preparation for the president today.
It’s a shame but necessary that we take precautions against the unthinkable. It’s one of those subtle things that we didn’t even imagine in the first few days of the WTC and Pentagon attacks. Lots of access to people and places disappeared in the smoke and pain of those attacks.
The biggest hassle is time. You have to be in place for the presidential event for no shorter than an hour and more likely two or longer. That makes for an especially long day if you have flat feet or a bad back. I feel sorry for the TV folks who have to hang on to a lot of gear. At least my kit is compact.
You are sniffed at least once by a dog, and passed through metal detectors and wand examined, and all kinds of checks. Don’t even think about getting close if you don’t have identification.
Of course there are snipers present, and all kinds of other security measures that you can see, but probably should not talk about, lest you get a visit from some agents who are wondering what your motive is for talking so freely about their efforts.
The pack of jackals known as The Washington Press Corps travels with the president, gets the first row seats and all the interviews. The White House knows that what he says to those people will likely make it on national broadcasts or in the big newspapers.
There is one notable exception to the White House media: Peter Maier, a former WSB Radio newsman is one of the few class acts to follow the president regularly. Most of the other people are not much more than press release readers and sound bite seekers.
Pack journalism. Bah!
The extensive changes to the presidential security procedures, added to the arm’s length distance the local people are kept from the president makes for a lot of effort for not very much in substantive reporting.
In my opinion, a local reporter would do much better concentrating on the local people who are there for the president, including the politicos who show up, and those who do not. My former news director Lee Hall and I came up with a “no public official” day that we would delcare from time-to-time at WSB. For that entire day, we could not put the voice of any public official on-the-air. Instead, we would have to interview “regular” people related to the story.
Maybe(with the exception of the president’s speech)we should have a “no public official” day when the president is in town. That would be a heck of a lot easier to do, waste less time waiting around, and probably turn out meatier stories.
I’ll be around on the day the president comes to town, mainly to offer advice and keep things rolling along on-the-air. But I am glad that I’m not the one who will have to stand and wait, and wait, and wait. Rain, cold, heat, no toilet…I’ve been there, done that..and wish the young-uns all the best in their effort.
