Live from Denver: The Press Operation of the DNC

by jill ~ August 28, 2008

From a friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous, here’s an inside look at what’s going on right now at the press office of the Democratic National Convention in Denver:

Usually the fight for political press is something of a street fight. You hustle around trying to get cameras to you on issues, call assignment desks at TV stations to find out if they are doing stories on certain issues of the day your boss may be involved in, or in New York’s case the infamous Sunday press conference, where you wake up and pitch assignment desks the day of in a hectic attempt to get coverage of your event.

The DNC puts that entirely to rest. To put it bluntly, there is so much press, politicians- rather than pitching the media, are being hounded by news outlets from Augusta, Maine to Afghanistan, and everywhere in-between.

Walking the corridors of the Pepsi Center where the first three days of the convention were held, I heard Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Farsi, Hindu, Mandarin, and many others - some that I didn’t recognize.

The press office, as one can expect- is quite a war room. Rapid response teams keep reporters blackberries buzzing at such a constant clip, they must think their blackberries are on perpetual buzz. TV’s with every major news outlet are constantly monitored by staff- and whenever some new issue arises, reporters are informed of mistakes, or spun in the direction staff wants.

This is the pinnacle of political communication. 550 federal elected officials, thousands of state and local ones, all being swarmed by a media looking for any sort of story.

The enduring lesson of the DNC when dealing with all this media, looking for any inch of daylight on a new angle is “stay on message.” If you control the message, you control the story.