Evening star., 1950-02-20
Much Seen in Favor
OF Presidents S Givinq
Exclusive Interview
Press Conferences Often
Give Casual Treatment
To important Matters
By David Lawrence

By David Lavrence
The sparkling conversation re-
Gently between President Truman
and the members of the press
who attend his weekly conferences
would seem to indicate that per-
haps all is not well between the
Chief Executive and the corps OF
correspondents.
Much of the difficulty arises
from misconception of the du-
ties of a President with respect to
the giving out of news. For many
decades the press, as a body,
never interviewed the President.
The press conference idea is of
recent origin, having been begun
in the Taft administration about
40 years ago. 1t was developed
under President Wilson and
reached its maximum interest
under President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, who made the confer
ences something of a show in
which he enjoyed bristling rep
artee with the newsmen.
Last week the correspondents
needed Mr.. Truman about the
exclusive article published by
Arthur Krock, Washington cor
respondent of 'the New York
Times. in which were summar-
lied in indirect discourse certain
conversations he had had with
the President. The White House
approved the article for publica-
ton.
Precedents Recalled.
Other Presidents have given ex-
elusive interviews. President Will
son gave at least two interviews
to the late Louis Seibold, of the
New York World, and two to
the late Samuel G. Blythe, OF
the Saturday Evening Post.
President Roosevelt gave Mr..
Krock an exclusive interview on
two different occasions. There is
no reason why a President
shouldn't give exclusive interviews
to particular correspondents or
even refrain from seeing the press
at all. There's no statute gov
erning such things. Publicity is
important to political administra-
tions, so press conferences have
come to stay.
Most Presidents have avoided
anything that seemed to be favor
itism. President Theodore Roose-
velt, however, played the game
the other Way-he selected CORE
spondents from opposition papers
and leaked" news to them and
hoped thereby for friendlier treat
ment IN the news columns than
he might otherwise have obtained.
There is much to be said in
favor of the exclusive interview on
particular topics instead of the
orthodox type of press conference.
For one thing, the correspondents
cover such wide range of ques-
tions in the weekly meetings that
they do not concentrate on any
particular subject. In these con-
ferences correspondents represent
ing all sorts of sectional and ma
tlonal interests have their sole op-
nNrffIfSitu m iot ~
dent, so often some of the really
important matters of the week get
casual treatment.
Often Unprepared.
One reason for this is that a
President doesn't usually know
what questions are coming and, in
many instances, he is, therefore,
unprepared to discuss them thor
oughly. If questions were sub
mitted in writing at least two
hours before a press conference,
President would have the time to
consult colleagues in government
and come up with much more
comprehensive answers. Questions
that were irrelevant or perhaps
impertinent could then be ignored
by the President, but once ques-
ton was answered or a topic in
troduced, it would be open for i'm
promptu questions not included in
the written list that had been sub
mitted.
While many of the correspond
ents didn't like the fact that Mr..
Truman gave an exclusive inter-
view to any of their number, it is
a safe bet that any of them would
have been the happy recipient of
such an interview. In the old
days, when competition was at it's
height among the correspondents,
there was no criticism of anyone's
Initiative or an officials willing
ness to respond to particular
queries for information. Perhaps
the correspondents were made to
appear by the reports of this par
tlcular press conference to have
been more irked than most of
them really felt. Anyway, it's also
a safe bet that exclusive inter-
views will be as rare in the future
as in the past.
The White House may not be
giving out all the news the press
wants. but, in contrast to what
used to be a sort of propaganda
use of the press conference and
in contrast to those days when
Presidents held themselves aloof
altogether, Mr.. Truman seems to
be handling his press relations as
well as any other President did
before him.