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General Petraeus Makes A Big Public Relations Mistake (UPDATED)

September 9th, 2007
By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Print Print

You’d think that tomorrow night after giving his report to Congress Gen. David Petraeus would try to maximize his message by not in any way getting enmeshed in anything that would appear as if he’s being political or trying to evade journalists who may have tough questions.

But the latest is that after his address tomorrow he and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will give — you guessed it — Fox News an EXCLUSIVE interview.

So much for a p.r. campaign that will extend beyond pulling out all stops to try and shore up more than just the Republican Party’s base.

The reality is even though Fox News does have some excellent journalists, it has the reputation of being essentially the administration’s favorite media outlet (along with appearances on Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity). Rightfully or wrongfully, it has the reputation of going easier on administration officials than newspeople of other networks do.

If the administration and Pentagon had political smarts, they would let the General talk to Fox and at least one other news network immediately after his talk.

But now they will be open to charges — rightfully or wrongfully — that they went on a network widely seen as “friendly,” a network skewed to Republicans once again indicating that the administration runs a government of the base, by the base and for the base.

That may be unfair, but just watch the reaction. By giving an exclusive interview to Fox, journalists from other outlets including the print media are going to conclude that the administration has some things to hide because they didn’t have the guts to send their key people out to talk to reporters who might ask tougher and more hostile questions and confront the toughest questions, challenges and even hostile attitudes head-on.

PS: I’m a former reporter and that’s my impression as well. They’re opting for a highly-controlled P.R. campaign and, if the goal was to win over independent voters and convince some non-progressive Democrats to give the administration the benefit of the doubt, many will conclude — rightfully or wrongfully — that Petraeus and the Ambassador were going to Fox to control the kind of questioning and also reward Fox for being such great buds to them in times of increasing media criticism.

The problem: they don’t only need to win over the choir.

UPDATE: Donklephant has the same reaction:

I won’t mince words here. They went with Fox because they are friendlier and they’re trying to appeal to their base. That’s it and there’s really no mystery about that.

However, this is the people’s government, not the Republican’s government, and Petraeus shouldn’t be granting exclusive interviews to ANY network, let alone one that has taken a stance on where they fall in the political spectrum. Bush should know better by now, but he’s more interested in trying to salvage his legacy at this point, and holding his decisions up to increased scrutiny isn’t in the game plan.

UPDATE II: Andrew Sullivan is on the same wavelength as well:

If Drudge is right and the general and the ambassador are going to give Fox News’ Brit Hume an exclusive hour-long sit-down, then it seems to me they forfeit any pretense of neutrality. They really need either to stick to the Congressional testimony, or appear on more outlets than a purely Republican network. It’s extremely important for the integrity of the US military - and the credibility of Petraeus - that it remain above partisanship and even the appearance of partisanship. Here’s hoping Drudge is wrong. They couldn’t be that stupid, could they?

UPDATE III: For a completely different take on this, be sure to read Blue Crab Boulevard.



This entry was posted on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Bush Administration, Fox News, General David Petraeus, Surge, TV News, War, Iraq, Media, Politics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 
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