Communications Aides Reveal Tricks of the Trade

By David Perera
Roll Call Staff


Tuesday, Jun. 10; 04:29pm

As much as the media loves leaks, sources have their own reasons for doling out hot scoops. And to be a good press secretary, you need to know how to do it.

For example: �I tend to only do scoops on positive stories,� said John Feehery, spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).

That�s just one of the nuggets gleaned by Miami University of Ohio students who attended a panel discussion Monday in which speechwriters and flacks revealed the tricks of their trades.

Feehery told an audience of about 40 that a standard Capitol Hill practice is �to leak to The Associated Press.�

That way the leak will �get The New York Times� and Washington Post�s attention,� but will also likely be on the front page of a Member�s home district newspaper.

...

Meanwhile, the press secretaries talked mostly about their interaction with reporters. �Nothing gets reporters more angry than not returning phone calls,� Feehery said.

At the same time, the flacks said reporters should be careful not to get information wrong.

Trent Duffy, a press secretary for the White House Office of Management and Budget, said, �If a story is wrong, a fact is wrong, I have an obligation to point that out.� For example, he explained, reports that the deficit level is at historically high levels is true in �nominal� terms, but not when measured as a share of the economy.

Feehery said if he believes a reporter is a �jerk,� then he gives the reporter �the bare minimum. Something else I do, I give their competitors as good a story as I can.�

Feehery advised getting friendly with reporters. �They�re people,� he said. �Mostly they�re trying to meet a deadline.�

He said Democrats tend to be better at schmoozing reporters and attending reporters� social events than Republicans, however.

Stonewalling received universal condemnation. Then-Rep. Gary Condit�s (D-Calif.) 2001 interview with Connie Chung is �example 101 of how not to handle a crisis,� said Brendan Daly, press secretary to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). �It basically sealed his fate.�