Obama Rewarding Local TV In Battleground States

Locals each get seven minutes with President

WSOC anchor Natalie Pasquarella interviews President Obama in the White House Map Room. “We had to make every second count,” said Kim Holt, a senior executive producer at the Charlotte television station.

Ever since he quit smoking, President Obama has been staving off nicotine cravings by reaching for celery sticks.

He thinks Americans who help Mexican drug cartels should be “thrown in jail.”

And he has an open invitation to enjoy lemon martinis in Miami.

Peter Wallsten in a story at The Washington Post writes these are just a few of the exclusive news nuggets to emerge from the White House in recent days.

The new details were not disclosed by the army of White House reporters employed by the country’s biggest news media organizations to track Obama’s every move and word.

Instead, as Obama keeps the White House press corps at a distance, he has sat for more than a dozen interviews with their colleagues from local TV stations — with unpredictable and sometimes illuminating results.

One Miami reporter Obama recently invited to the White House was still so nervous when the interview was over that she stood to leave before removing the wired microphone from her lapel. Obama called out to stop her. “We don’t want a wardrobe malfunction,” he said.

An anchor from the ABC affiliate in Cincinnati swiped paper towels embossed with the presidential seal from a White House bathroom, “just to prove that I really was there.” Of course, she had additional proof of her visit: an interview with the president that aired on television. Nonetheless, she held up the towels for the camera in a live shot from the White House lawn.

Obama has made such encounters with local news stations a staple of his communications strategy. Since December, White House aides have handpicked 13 stations, all in key cities in presidential battleground states, to reward with the biggest “get” in the TV news business: a one-on-one White House interview with the president. An additional interview was granted to Hearst Television’s Washington bureau, which serves more than two dozen local stations across the country.

Each reporter is granted seven minutes with the commander in chief.

In March alone, Obama has welcomed interviewers from Charlotte, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Albuquerque and Norfolk. Before that, invitees came from Richmond, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Tampa, Denver, Des Moines and Columbus. And aides say more are coming soon.

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