Glimpses of a Leader, Through Chosen Eyes Only
JOE
July 13, 2003
Glimpses of a Leader, Through Chosen Eyes Only
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
WASHINGTON, July 12 - The official White House photograph of President
Bush, splashed across the front pages of the nation's newspapers last
summer, showed him striding vigorously on a Camp David trail, just
hours after he had been sedated for a colonoscopy. It was a flattering
portrait of a fit chief executive, ready to take up the nation's
business once again.
And no wonder, say photojournalists: the president had selected and
approved the photograph's release to the news media.
Eric Draper, the chief White House photographer and the only
photographer allowed at Camp David that weekend, had shown Mr. Bush
the small image of the picture in the back of his digital camera. "I
said, `What do you think about this?"' Mr. Draper recalled in an
interview in his West Wing basement office last week. "And he said,
`O.K., that's good.' "
All recent presidents have had official photographers, and all have
distributed White House photographs that they hoped put the president
and his administration in the best light.
But photographers, picture editors and even administration officials
say that no other administration has moved as forcefully as the Bush
White House to limit the access of outside news photographers to the
president. There are two reasons, they say: the administration's
desire for secrecy, and new technology, like the ability to send
digital photos by e-mail, that makes immediate dissemination of images
possible.
"The truth is, it's always been controlled," said Susan Kismaric, the
curator of the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art
in New York and the author of "American Politicians: Photographs from
1843 to 1993."
The photographer Mathew Brady touched up photographs of Lincoln, Ms.
Kismaric said, and Kennedy gave extraordinary access to his
photographer, Jacques Lowe, who made some of the most romantic images
of Camelot.
Generally, the official pictures of Mr. Bush follow the White House's
narrative line of a manly, resolute leader, like the photograph of the
president clearing brush at his Texas ranch wearing a cowboy hat.
Others portray him as deeply engaged in his duties, like one widely
used photograph of Mr. Bush in an intense meeting in the Oval Office
the morning after the United States opened the war against Iraq.
"Obviously, we're looking for something where the president looks
good," said Mr. Draper, 38, a former photographer for The Associated
Press who was assigned to Mr. Bush's presidential campaign and who got
his job at the White House when he simply asked the president-elect if
he could have it.
Picture editors say the problem with limited access to the president
is that while the White House photographs are technically excellent
and capture important moments of history, they are the
administration's version of events, not journalism.
"This administration, in times of crisis, has really put out its own
image from its own employees," said Chuck Kennedy, a Knight Ridder
photographer who has covered the White House since Ronald Reagan's
last term. "I don't know that any one of these handouts is a grand
fabrication or a distortion of what's going on, but we're only getting
one voice."
Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, said in an interview
that he tried to find common ground between photographers who wanted
access and a president who guards his privacy. "When that's not
possible, the White House photographer can still help shine light on
what the president does," Mr. Fleischer said.
Mr. Bush, longtime White House photographers say, is not as
comfortable with the camera as his father, Mr. Reagan or Bill Clinton.
"I think having a photographer in the room is distracting for him,"
said David Hume Kennerly, the White House photographer for Gerald R.
Ford who is now a contributing editor for Newsweek. "He's a natural
guy, he's not uncomfortable in his own skin, but part of that is him
not being totally comfortable being photographed all the time."
Newspapers often run White House photos without crediting the White
House, an article last month in Editor & Publisher said. Many times
the credit line lists a news service that distributed the photo.
Last summer, when Mr. Bush gave a rare day-at-the-ranch interview to
Scott Lindlaw of The Associated Press, he did not want an outside news
photographer to come, Mr. Fleischer said. Instead, the White House
asked Mr. Draper to do the work. The resulting pictures, which ran for
weeks in publications across the country, including The New York
Times, showed Mr. Bush silhouetted against the Texas morning sky after
an early run or looking rugged in a T-shirt and cowboy hat while
hauling a cedar log over his shoulder.
The Oval Office photograph taken by Mr. Draper the morning after the
war against Iraq commenced showed the president, Vice President Dick
Cheney and George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence,
engaged in what looked like a tense discussion. Andrew H. Card Jr.,
the White House chief of staff, looked on.
White House officials say that allowing a group of news photographers
in for that scene would have compromised security and changed the
character of the meeting. "Have you ever been in the Oval Office when
the photographers come running in?" Mr. Fleischer said. "Literally,
it's a thundering herd. That picture could not have taken place."
Mr. Draper, chief among five presidential photographers, shadows Mr.
Bush throughout his day and accompanies him on most foreign and
domestic trips. He photographs all official meetings and events for
the White House archives and Web site.
When photographs are to be released to the news media, Mr. Draper
typically asks Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director,
to choose one out of three or four shots of the same scene.
Photographers tend not to quarrel with the White House about taking
photographs of sensitive meetings.
The larger issue, they say, is that there are fewer outside
photographers allowed to discreetly follow the president for a
behind-the-scenes look at his day, a practice that was standard in
other administrations.
"It can be so illuminating — just a touch, just a look, just a gesture
of some sort," said Diana Walker, a longtime Time magazine
photographer and the author of "Public and Private: Twenty Years
Photographing the Presidency." In 1997, Ms. Walker caught the look on
Hillary Clinton's face when Chelsea Clinton opened her coat to reveal
the micro-miniskirt she was wearing to her father's second inaugural.
Photographers readily acknowledge that behind-the-scenes photography
is not necessarily reality either. "You're going to see what they want
you to see," said Dirk Halstead, a former Time photographer who
covered the White House.
Mr. Halstead, who is now assembling collections of presidential
photography at the Center for American History at the University of
Texas, said that the lack of outside access would leave a gap in the
public record of the Bush presidency.
"I really think we're going to come up short on an historical basis
from the standpoint of `What were these people really like?' " Mr.
Halstead said. "Eric's pictures are there, but they are suspect
because he's working for the president."
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Chris Williamson
Typical NYT ranting and raving about the president.
BTW, George Washington used to have advance people
who would rally crowds to cheer him as he passed through
towns. I guess we ought to have Bumiller give us her take
on that as well.
--
"Blessed are the peacemakers."
-- Jesus of Nazareth
gr...@internet.charitydays.co.uk
".........who would rally crowds........."
I don't think it happened quite the way it sounds.
In those days there were no telephones or television.
If someone didn't knock on your door and tell you that George Washington was coming,
you wouldn't know.
You would go to the Ale House after sunset, and the innkeeper would serve you your beer,
and then tell you that George Washington had passed through the town, earlier that day.
You might say "Damn --- I missed it --- Now I'll never see what he looks like."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Williamson
Sure it did. Washington wanted a crowd around. Lots of luminaries and celebrities
don't need an adoring crowd around. Apparently Washington did.
> In those days there were no telephones or television.
>
> If someone didn't knock on your door and tell you that George Washington was coming,
> you wouldn't know.
>
> You would go to the Ale House after sunset, and the innkeeper would serve you your beer,
> and then tell you that George Washington had passed through the town, earlier that day.
>
> You might say "Damn --- I missed it --- Now I'll never see what he looks like."
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--