Reality Show President: Inside the White House PR Machine

Ever since the White House press corps filed its protest over photo access, the administration’s use of photography and social media to control its image has drawn closer scrutiny. The AP’s Santiago Lyon, penning this Op-Ed in the New York Times, went so far as to call it “Orwellian.” In producing this just-under 12 minute video, ReasonTV drew heavily on quotes from me and posts from BagNews. In addition to the video, you can see their accompanying write up here.

If you’re interested, Reason has a HD version, an MP4 for iPod and an audio-only MP3 for download.

… Just for the record, by the way, George Clooney appears 5 times on the White House Flickr site. I haven’t trolled through the White House Twitter feed, its Instagram feed, the White House Photo of the Day feature on the White House website or all its other sections, including the White House blog (well, I quickly found this), but all told, I’m pretty sure the cumulative total of Clooney appearances rises to double digits.

(photo: Pete Souza/White House. June 4, 2009)