Her name was May Craig. And she was, without doubt, a journalist’s journalist.
Over the course of her reporting career Ms. Craig had covered both World War II and the Korean War. Then she moved on to American politics.
All of that and she was unknown to the larger American public outside Washington until the Kennedy era and the advent of televised press conferences with the President and the then-White House press corps.
Before the arrival of the telegenic young President John F. Kennedy, presidential press conferences were conducted in Oval Office scrums with no television. In fact, television itself didn’t exist en masse until after FDR had come and gone from the White House. And while his successors -- Truman and Eisenhower -- held press conferences, they were decidedly not held on live television. The concern in the day was that it was too risky for an American President to be taking questions on live television. It was the dawn of the terrifying nuclear age, and the belief was that if the President misspoke, the consequences could be horrific.
But JFK felt that times had changed. The 1960’s were now here, and so was live television. So he made a point of changing the rules and for the first time Americans could witness a President being grilled by the press with no filter or editing coming between the President and his audience. JFK would motorcade over to an auditorium in the State Department, where he relished what quickly became a regular national TV show.
(The White House press room of today came about only in the Nixon era, when President Nixon ordered the famous White House swimming pool of FDR drained and covered over to accommodate the press. No small thing was that this removed the press from their previous hangout in the West Wing lobby where they could observe those who came and went to see the President. Nixon would have none of that, and government contractors were put to work building a floor in the drained pool, and the press room of today was born.)
The participating press of the Kennedy era was highly aware that live television didn’t just cover the President -- it televised them as well. Thus they were extremely well-behaved. Not only were the American people watching them. So were their bosses. They quickly became a hot new television show.
Which is where May Craig came in. She was edging towards her elderly years, but was never hesitant to ask her questions. Famously, on one occasion she stood up and politely accused the President’s administration of practicing “managed news,” asking why JFK felt the need to practice it. The President asked Craig what she felt she and the White House press corps should be getting from his administration, to which she replied: “I thought we should get everything we want.” The President smiled, nodded his head, and to the laughter of the press said “I think you should too, Miss Craig. I’m for that.”
I actually remembered this episode from watching it live myself, geeky kid that I was. Amazingly that moment is now preserved on YouTube.
But the point here? Contrast May Craig’s respectful, polite question to JFK with this report on a recent White House press conference held by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Trump’s press secretary goes nuclear on journalist over ICE question: ‘You’re a left-wing hack’
The story in NJ.com reports:
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s Thursday briefing went off the rails as she clashed with a reporter who criticized the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who killed Renee Good.
The exchange began with The Hill’s White House columnist Niall Stanage questioning ICE’s tactics after an agent shot and killed Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. That prompted Leavitt to pose her own question to the White House columnist: 'Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?'
'Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably,' Stanage said.
His response elicited a furious reaction from Leavitt.
'Oh, OK. So you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion. You’re a left-wing hack,' Leavitt said. 'You’re not a reporter, you’re posing in this room as a journalist and it’s so clear by the premise of your question.'
Suffice to say, the gulf between May Craig’s respectful back and forth with JFK and the belligerent, decidedly politicized attack on Press Secretary Leavitt from that The Hill reporter is oceanic.
Craig was respectful and neutral in tone and substance. Stanage was seriously partisan, not to mention outright rude.
Which goes to a much larger point. Too many people covering the Trump White House, whether in the White House or spread across the media around the country, are not about journalism. They are about left-wing, anti-Trump activism -- exactly as Leavitt said.
Just one of the problems with this is that down the road, when Trump is long gone from the White House and a Democrat holds the Oval Office, the ground has been laid for right-wing activists to also masquerade as journalists covering the Democrat President and his/her administration.
Which is to say, the old wisdom applies: “Be careful what you wish for.”
And if and when the day arrives that the White House press room is filled with conservative activists masquerading as journalists, you will know where they got the idea.
