Dress Rehearsal

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Elaine_s_Cross

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Brian Williams - “Dress Rehearsal”

*My day, at least editorially, started just after I’d chosen a spot on the couch for the 9:30 a.m. editorial daily planning meeting. I arrived early and was finishing up the newspapers when an e-mail came into my BlackBerry – it was from a producer in our control room, watching the incoming feed from Iraq. The President was minutes away from what was billed to us as a “give and take…a back and forth” with soldiers on the ground in Iraq. The e-mail said they were rehearsing their answers to the President’s questions. It went on to say they were receiving coaching from yet-unnamed government officials on HOW to deliver their lines once the President appeared. *
*We’ve all been party to media events and blatant photo ops. Members of the media have known full well when events in the past have been thoroughly scripted to bring about the desired response. While this kind of thing gets reported when germane, it’s a given in political campaigns, just as it was a given during the series of town meetings this President held, the guests were invited and questions were at very minimum strongly encouraged by subject manner, if not outwardly planted. It’s what the home team gets to do. It’s part of politics and both parties have made it something of an art form. In this case, however, the advance billing and final execution were at odds. And what we witnessed – the comments first rehearsed then repeated verbatim with minor deviations once the President entered the discussion – was rather stunning to see on television, as viewers will see on our air tonight. *

dailynightly.msnbc.com/2005/10/dress_rehearsal.html
 
I miss JFK’s press conferences.
Reporters asked whatever…and JFK answered whatever…
 
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catsrus:
I miss JFK’s press conferences.
Reporters asked whatever…and JFK answered whatever…
How rude! “Whatever” is a terrible way to answer. 😉
 
I dunno… I’ve read this same story like 5 times now and it seems they were told the questions beforehand and each decided or were picked to answer specific ones beforehand, so they knew whom to give the mike to.
I’ve yet to hear anything about the answers not being theirs. At most, it seems they wanted someone who could actually answer the question to be prepared to.
I like how, even though there and ‘witnessing’ everything ect, no one can say whether the answers were actually scripted and not the soldiers opinions… Instead we hear:
-They practiced their answers beforehand (and said pretty much the same thing a few minutes later… My word, some people have memory?)
-Each Soldier was prepared to answer a specific question. How this was selected is not said.

They actually admit that they don’t know if the answers were “scripted to get a desired response” or not (which seems worse then having a question and answer order).

But, of course, the news then turns it around and twists it so much that we MUST assume it’s been scripted…
 
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CatholicCid:
I dunno… I’ve read this same story like 5 times now and it seems they were told the questions beforehand and each decided or were picked to answer specific ones beforehand, so they knew whom to give the mike to.
I’ve yet to hear anything about the answers not being theirs. At most, it seems they wanted someone who could actually answer the question to be prepared to.
I like how, even though there and ‘witnessing’ everything ect, no one can say whether the answers were actually scripted and not the soldiers opinions… Instead we hear:
-They practiced their answers beforehand (and said pretty much the same thing a few minutes later… My word, some people have memory?)
-Each Soldier was prepared to answer a specific question. How this was selected is not said.

They actually admit that they don’t know if the answers were “scripted to get a desired response” or not (which seems worse then having a question and answer order).

But, of course, the news then turns it around and twists it so much that we MUST assume it’s been scripted…
I think it’s more “Bush is a loser no matter what” by the media. If the deal had been poorly coordinated they would have said “Bush runs his video conferences like he’s running the war.” Since some planning took place so it could be squared away it’s “Bush choreographs interviews like he choreographs reasons to go to war.”

:hmmm:
 
CBS News: Bush, Troops Have Rehearsed Chat

The White House said that the live televised event had to be rehearsed in order to run smoothly and there was no doubt from the soldiers involved, reports Logan.

“The truth is that everything that was said was meant to be said, though it may have sounded scripted in some places,” Sergeant David Barry-Smith told Logan.

cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/13/politics/main943382.shtml
 
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