Video Wall to be put up behind Tony Snow - Now BS Will Be Visual

[RamboLiberal]

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115438835036522799-ivjdAJ6ts4jiRHAKvU4tfbJmpg8_20060831.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

For a decade, the daily White House news briefing has been televised. Now it is becoming television.

Earlier this year, Fox News talk show host Tony Snow was hired as press secretary. Next up: a renovation of the briefing room, likely with a video wall that could display everything from "flags waving in the breeze detailed charts and graphs," according to a senior White House official working on the project. For TV viewers, the video feed could be the sole on-screen image, or could share the space with the speaker.

White House officials say they are weighing how -- and how often -- to use the video capability. But the new technology could help transform White House briefings -- midday exchanges with reporters in a utilitarian setting -- into more interesting viewing. Both the planned video capabilities and Mr. Snow's hiring appear to be part of a subtle but sweeping effort by administration officials to deliver their message directly to the public, particularly through video.

"It's simply a necessary response to a news environment where you have players in all quarters 24 hours a day," Mr. Snow says. "If you're in government ... your key challenge to make sure you get your message out."

<snip>

Media experts say graphics and charts could reinforce the White House's message at briefings. A video wall also could diminish the role of reporters as questioners. For example, remote briefers might sometimes appear on home TV screens to talk past the reporters in the room, and address the public directly. That already happens with some video feeds, such as when a colonel in Ramadi, Iraq, led off a recent Pentagon briefing by saying, "I'm always happy for the opportunity to tell Americans what a great job their sons and daughters are doing for all Americans over here." Pentagon news briefings also frequently find their way onto cable TV.

[liberal N proud]

1. More like FAUX news set or the Situation Room on CNN

Helping to Catapult the agenda

[global1]

2. They Were Contemplating Smell-O-Vision Too - But You Know....

how B.S. smells.

[enuffs_enuffs]

3. Pretty soon all reporters not affiliated with FOX

Will be excluded for National Security reasons.

[Nite Owl]

4. There ought to be a list

of all the stuff that they spend our tax money on and what they say we can't afford, the things that they call 'tax and spend' and then the reality of what they do. We can pay for furthering their propaganda machine and yet people are dying in their wars and lack even basic heathcare. They invented the word hypocrit.

[hang a left]

5. I think I am going to be ill.....wait....I am ill

:puke:

[Benhurst]

6. And now a word from Tony Snow, live from the

Ministry of Propaganda.

[Ian David]

7. Someone has a case of Blitzer-envy! n/t

[Rude Horner]

8. Visual images, complete with subliminal images of

easy to ask and answer, suggested softball questions like....

Mr. Snow. Why is the president so smart and handsome?
Mr. Snow. Why is it true that the American people are better off now than they ever were under Bill Clinton?
Mr. Snow. Explain to us why the conflicts in Iraq, and more recently Isreal/Lebanon are all Bill Clinton's fault.

etc.... :puke: