Comments on: A Primer on Presidential Press Conferences

By: The Presidential Press Conference, An Endangered Species? | The Moderate Voice

Sat, 29 May 2010 00:16:02 +0000

[...] 1 Scholars label an event a “press conference” if it is a public event where accredited reporters are free to ask any question of the President, if there is a transcript of the on-the-record event, and if the event is scheduled and announced in advance. (cite) [...]

By: Matthew Dickinson

Matthew Dickinson — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:21:54 +0000

Bob – The practice of submitting written questions dates back to Warren G. Harding’s presidency, and was instituted after Harding made some misstatements in response to reporters’ questions at his press conferences. Coolidge followed suit, as did Hoover. That’s the precedent FDR was responding to when he noted in his first press conference that he would no longer require questions to be submitted beforehand. Samuel Kernell, in his book Going Public, provides a brief overview of the development of the presidential press conference. I do not know how long in advance of the press conference questions were required to be submitted. I do know that the press grew increasingly frustrated by this requirement, and that by FDR’s presidency they were ready for a change. Note that FDR’s successors, although no longer requiring that questions be submitted in advance, still worked diligently to try to ascertain what questions were likely to be asked. Their press secretaries often informally queried reporters about likely topics to be raised. And presidents prepare for these conferences by holding mock practice sessions.

By: Bob Bronson

Bob Bronson — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:10:14 +0000

Since your article states that FDR said in 1933 “And so I think we will discontinue the practice of compelling the submitting of questions in writing before the conference in order to get an answer” how long, prior and subsequent to FDR, have reporter’s questions had to be submitted (how much) in advance and in writing so the President has time to think about them and have help in composing answers?

Thanx in advance,

Bob Bronson

By: Matthew Dickinson

Matthew Dickinson — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:00:16 +0000

It appears the graph showing the number of presidential press conferences (from the Matthew Eshbaugh Soha article, doesn’t show up in the blog itself (although it does show up on my screen). I’ll see if I can get that data to you in a separate format.

By: Matthew Dickinson

Matthew Dickinson — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:55:32 +0000

Ed – I completely agree. You’d expect a few questions dealing with the confirmation screwups, but not one was asked. I think the failure to push on this reflected two things: Obama’s great success at filibustering by giving lengthy answers, and the fact that the press is still in its honeymoon phase.

btw, the link to the Martha Kumar article is apparently not working. Here’s the citation for her article: Presidential Studies Quarterly
Volume 33 Issue 1, Pages 221 – 237.