Spin Cycle :: essays research papers

SPIN CYCLE&9With so many diverse scandal to his credit and numerous ongoinginvestigations pending, President Clinton has been bombarded by the media in afashion not seen since the last days of the Nixon administration. Despite thisunwanted attention, Clinton has managed to keep an eye on lofty approval ratings andsuccessfully deflect even the most ardent attacks. How does he do it? Thisquestion is answered in full in Spin Cycle, a backroom look at how news iscreated and packaged in the blanched House and the methods used to distribute itto the public. In painting a detailed picture of the hand to hand combat knownas a press conference, Kurtz shows how the use of controlled leaks, meticulouslyworded briefs, and the outright avoidance of certain questions allows the WhiteHouse to control the scope and center of the stories that make it to the frontpage and the nightly network news. As Kurtz makes clear, the president andFirst Lady are convinced that the media are out to get them, eon the journalists covering the White House are constantly frustrated at the stonewalling and the lack of cooperation they encounter while trying to do their jobs. In the nerve centre is the White House press secretary Mike McCurry, a master at defusing volatile situations and walking the fine line with the press. Though less(prenominal) paranoid and cynical of the media than Clinton, he often finds himself on both ends of personal attacks and vendettas that veer far outside the arena of objective reporting. The anecdotes and carefully buried nurture that Kurtz has uncovered give this book a brisk pace, along with ample invaluable information that cuts to the core of this age of media overkill.&9Kurtz focuses mainly on White House response to scandal news in 1996and 1997, and he does not purport to cover most other aspects of the relationship between the president and the press. And deep down the narrow scope of his research, he had only fragmentary access to important informat ion. For legal and political reasons, white House aides were probably not abandoned to volunteer the whole truth. Whats more, the story is still unfolding. Though he adds nothing to what is known about recent happenings in the Oval Office, he does discombobulate light on a subject that remains of considerable importance the techniques used by the Clinton administration to shape the way it is portrayed in the press. It neer seriously takes up the issue that seems to lie at its core.