Sunday, November 16, 2008
Channeling FDR
FDR was partly successful in office because he exploited the power of radio to bypass the national media and speak directly to the American people in a series of fireside chats. But radio had it the national scene long before FDR came to the presidency. So why didn't earlier presidents recognize the power of radio?
The answer lies in FDR's understanding of how people listened to the radio. Some of FDR's predecessors did attempt speaking to the American public over radio, but they did so as if they were speaking to all assembled in a large hall. Many Americans complained that when the president spoke, he was so loud that the speech came across garbled. FDR noticed, when visiting the homes of friends, that when a favorite radio show came on, they gathered around and listened in a way that showed they forged an emotional attachment with the voice on the radio. It drew them in as if they were part of the story. Thus when FDR spoke during his fireside chat, he spoke as if he were talking one on one with his audience.
Successful presidents are those who think of ways to get around the press, either by thinking about how the White House communications is organized (Nixon, Bush II) or think of ways to engage media of all types (Reagan) or think of ways to exploit new and emerging technology (FDR, Clinton). Into this third category we may now place President-elect Barack Obama.
Obama, who used new media as an essential instrument in his campaign, has taken that thinking to the White House. President Obama plans to replace the Saturday Radio Address--a staple since FDR but listened by a tiny fraction of Americans--with the YouTube Saturday Radio Address. Obama has already been using YouTube to explain to Americans what he plans to do in tackling the economic problems facing the country, and to explain how they plan to limit lobbyist access to the Executive Branch. And to reinforce these addresses, Obama has brought in several bloggers who wrote positively of him during the campaign to serve inside the White House Office of Communications. The White House Office of Communications has traditionally worked to move the president's message through or around the national press, and now it seems it will also seek to move the president's message in the blogosphere.
Time will tell to determine if this matters, but clearly taking into account the online community is a way to reach millions of potential supporters who do not use the traditional media to say informed. If it works, then historians will look back on Obama the way we look back on FDR and his strategy to reach Americans directly.
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The answer lies in FDR's understanding of how people listened to the radio. Some of FDR's predecessors did attempt speaking to the American public over radio, but they did so as if they were speaking to all assembled in a large hall. Many Americans complained that when the president spoke, he was so loud that the speech came across garbled. FDR noticed, when visiting the homes of friends, that when a favorite radio show came on, they gathered around and listened in a way that showed they forged an emotional attachment with the voice on the radio. It drew them in as if they were part of the story. Thus when FDR spoke during his fireside chat, he spoke as if he were talking one on one with his audience.
Successful presidents are those who think of ways to get around the press, either by thinking about how the White House communications is organized (Nixon, Bush II) or think of ways to engage media of all types (Reagan) or think of ways to exploit new and emerging technology (FDR, Clinton). Into this third category we may now place President-elect Barack Obama.
Obama, who used new media as an essential instrument in his campaign, has taken that thinking to the White House. President Obama plans to replace the Saturday Radio Address--a staple since FDR but listened by a tiny fraction of Americans--with the YouTube Saturday Radio Address. Obama has already been using YouTube to explain to Americans what he plans to do in tackling the economic problems facing the country, and to explain how they plan to limit lobbyist access to the Executive Branch. And to reinforce these addresses, Obama has brought in several bloggers who wrote positively of him during the campaign to serve inside the White House Office of Communications. The White House Office of Communications has traditionally worked to move the president's message through or around the national press, and now it seems it will also seek to move the president's message in the blogosphere.
Time will tell to determine if this matters, but clearly taking into account the online community is a way to reach millions of potential supporters who do not use the traditional media to say informed. If it works, then historians will look back on Obama the way we look back on FDR and his strategy to reach Americans directly.
