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The Press Club of the White House
For journalists, this is the Holy Grail. All the biggest stars of the American information are passed to it. But correspondents club of the White House is one of the most exclusive. And everyone is not the same status.Survey the scenes of a closed universe, with its codes and rituals.
Press Conference Room of the White House (SAUL LOEB / AFP)
What Mark Knoller dream? What dreams live the imposing bearded CBS News, asleep in his tiny cabin basement of the White House, which seems ready to explode in the next snoring? A heroic scoop? Knoller covers the presidency since the 1970s, but it replays perhaps an even earlier stage, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, where a reporter for UPI (United Press International) had monopolized the following car phone the president and his classmates beat in the race to scoop. Yes, he was well Merriman Smith, a phone glued to his colleague from the Associated Press tried to pull her drumming her back while the convoy hurtling any blind to Parkland Hospital. Unless more modest he dream his next gotcha (contraction of "I got you", "I got you"), the question that will immerse the president or his press officer in trouble .
Upstairs, precisely, Josh Earnest, said adviser, is preparing to make its entry into the press room for the daily midday briefing. On the menu that day in February, explain and justify the military concept a smoky nothing "sustainable offensive operations on the ground" to carefully distinguish from others - not offensive, not durable or not on the field ...
You wanted a glamorous stage? You watch too much TV. When you think of correspondents, it is not a Mark Knoller you have in mind, rather a type with a square jaw and impeccable brushing pushing the chair into a corner, with a flurry of questions shouted mercilessly. The reality is more prosaic. The face-to-face with the media takes place largely in a press room located a few meters from the Oval Office, renovated in 2007: a podium, 49 seats and behind, twenty microscopic offices on two floors. After a few minutes in this confined space, there is a sense of change in an aquarium. "It was worse before, remembers Olivier Knox, Yahoo! . News When I installed in my basement office in December 2000, I felt something was walking between my feet mouse! »
For the foreign press correspondents, neighborhoods are even less cozy: it took the hard pitbull Laurence Haim, the corresponding Canal + / i> Tele, that 14 journalists from the foreign press formed an association have the right ... in an office style Ikea plated along a corridor and a seat in the press room (they are attributed by name to the organizations). In this jar, the small fry coexists with white sharks and some clownfish. Sharks, it is of course journalists from major TV channels, news networks or chains that occupy the first two rows of the room and, with news agencies, asking basic questions. They politely greet journalistic foot soldiers, but little more: "We must not annoy them when they bossent and they bossent all the time, notes Laurence Haim (" Laura "for Americans) No above. in the journalistic hierarchy than being equal to the White House. "The stars of the TV info, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams and many others have gone through this box before becoming presenters. Their salary? "Between 1 and $ 5 million a year, 'says a jealous colleague.
At the other end of this "order" of journos, there are bizarre characters who sometimes do not write for anyone but got their hard pass (miss permanent) in better times. "It looks like the bar "Star Wars", "blew one day Dana Perino, the spokesman George Bush. In this court of miracles, you meet such Raghubir Goyal, an Indian journalist specializing in inane questions or ass-licking, like, "There is always an outstanding woman behind a man who knows the success, how the president [Bush ] does he live? "Goyal, which the president or advisor sometimes give the floor to divert attention, is universally hated by his colleagues.
The radio journalist Les Kinsolving, hardly more popular, meanwhile follower of conspiracy theories and questions about sexuality that fall like a hair in the soup. It also crosses in a more serious note, running from end to such journalists Connie Lawn, who succeeded the legendary Helen Thomas as Dean of correspondents. The latter, a true figure of this small theater, died in July 2013. "Connie Lawn? The day his pass is removed him one, it passes the bucket, "smiles a colleague. Some of the 800 hard pass holders are not even journalists like
Martha Joynt Kumar, a small lady who can recite the percentage of questions from reporters for the first two rows of the press room. The political scientist, university professor, seems to have become completely addicted to his favorite topic of research: the Presidential Press. It is all briefings ...
Between these extremes are changing lambda journalists. In the sixth or seventh in the press room, while Josh Earnest dissects military philosophy of his boss Obama, Stanislas de Saint Hippolyte takes notes on his laptop."Stan" (Americans love simplicity) is equal to the White House of the channel France 24. With confers Philip Crowther, he obtained his hard passin November. "It's not easy at the beginning there is a small journalist facing a huge administration, "he says. The content of the daily briefing is frustrating, it is text explanations and never revelations. Fortunately, "there are ways to have other angles" on the activity of the administration: answers to questions by email, briefings, in person or via an audio link with the identified responsible but that must remain "off" (anonymous). But "it is often the" off "group, where all the information that we receive are perfectly mastered by the White House," says Stan.
Recurring criticism, the antithesis of the Hollywood imagery: the White House controls its com millimeter, it locks it mercilessly. Yet it was a time when journalists were landing in the smoky HQ press officer and sat on the edge of his office, asked the question that tarabustait them. This tradition has partially survived until 2008, when Dana Perino ended the gaggle, the informal briefing in the morning, where we dropped the jacket and left the locker room artificial postures (gaggle is a word derived from gaggle of geese, "flock of geese"). "Fifteen to thirty journalists crammed into the office, no TV camera, it was mostly news agencies, recalls Olivier Knox. It was much better than the official briefing. »
Today, more issue to walk anywhere without permission, no question either of prowling the corridors of the Executive Office Building, the large building on the other side of the street (connected to the White House by an underground) which is almost all of Obama's advisors. In reality, says Olivier Knox, "the best way to cover the White House is to get out, covering Congress, embassies, think tanks, etc., or at least to be able to reach by phone or email the people of Congress, the State Department ... "Even the mythology of the place, the West Wing (West Wing), celebrated around the world, is misleading:" There is a whole imaginary linked cinema and series, but the Oval Office is a fairly simple desk, not very big. The West Wing, as a whole, is small, "says Jerome Cartillier corresponding to the White House to AFP.
But thanks to this small size, the physical proximity of the press with a head of state is unique: "There is a kind of affability with the president that is not found in the other countries, it is some very important for me, "said a journalist in the Middle East, at the same time we noted the presence of Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, two journalists of famous trials, preparing to cross the door lead them to the Oval Office for an interview.
All journalists based in the White House underscore the magic of the place: "It's an incredible privilege to cover the president of the United States, whatever. Whenever I cross the gate of the White House, it does something to me, "says Olivier Douliery an accredited photographer. At the same time, this cohabitation with power is more an artifact. For journalists, the Obama White House is one of the worst that are more closed and controlled, even, than George Bush "Look at the latest interviews Obama: Vox, YouTube, BuzzFeed ... Their strategy is to talk directly to the people, no longer exists, "sighs Laurence Haim, who asked about the type of journalism imposed by the device:" Did I really do my job? This is a very perverse system, it decrypts the presidential news, it's very interesting but also very, very far away from people, very different from investigative journalism. »
"The White House is the most secret I ever covered", was indignant Jill Abramson, while still leading the drafting of the "New York Times". A more menacing administration for the freedom of the press that "no other administration in American history," adds Susan Page, Washington office director of "USA Today". A presidency "significantly worse than the previous," says Sally Buzbee, head of the Associated Press office.
Fortunately, there are conferences and travel. The former are also locked. Contrary to what we see in movies or on TV, the president does not respond at random hands that rise but called names on a predetermined list "You can not you pack, you have to do lots of calculations, says our Middle East correspondent. If you annoy the president, you will not be on the next list. »List or not, the leader of the most powerful state in the world can avoid any uncomfortable questions. The preparation of the president is intense, it easily reached five hours under Bill Clinton.
The other escaped, they are traveling, precious moments when the ruthless com machine loosens its grip a little. Countless journalists who would sell mother, father and uncle of America for a trip aboard Air Force One, where places are limited (14). Journalists turn, many being delegated by a pool (group) that will send its report to colleagues. The rest of the press follows the journey in a charter plane, less sexy but more and more expensive, "The journey of Obama in Africa, eight days, cost about 60,000 euros a journalist and was two, "says Stanislas Saint Hippolyte. As for the movement of the president in China, Burma and Australia, it was initially charged 89,000 dollars (80,000 euros), triggering an outcry among the correspondents.
Trips are "what time rituals, the rate of the White House are turned upside down, says Jerome Cartillier, who often traveled aboard Air Force One. It was a much more direct access to advisors" found later in the day at the hotel bar and, after two or three glasses are more talkative. "He also has it, he continues, this tradition that the President, at the end of a trip, come and see "off" journalists at the back of the plane. This lasts ten to thirty minutes is very informal - it is not supposed to take notes - but extremely useful, we gain a vision without worldliness of the subject of the moment.This helps to understand the man behind the president. "Jerome Cartillier never forget the return trip to Asia and Australia:" The aircraft landed in Hawaii for refueling. The spokesman proposed a meeting "off" with the president on the tarmac. The sun rose over the small airport, we talked for half an hour with him. Half an hour in the morning with the president, after a week where we all slept three or four hours a night. "A beautiful scene, pretty surreal. A movie scene.
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