The media has a significant influence on how a presidential campaign works. It can make or break a campaign, as shown by the film produced by Alexandria Pelosi, who was the NBC producer and part of the media pack following the Bush campaign of 2000. This was the year in which Americans were going to the polls to elect their next commander in chief and the polls were hotly contested right from the primaries, in this case the Republican primaries where George Bush had to fight for the nomination with John McCain and then the actual polls where he faced off with Democrat Al Gore. The negative media coverage that the Bush campaign got played a big role in changing their media strategy after the New Hampshire loss to John McCain.
At the beginning of the film, before the New Hampshire, George Bush is a contender for the Republican Party ticket as seen in the campaign largesse that the Bush Campaign shows as seen in the footage filmed by Alexandria. But the Bush campaign comes across as hostile towards the media, for example, his campaign manager boasts about how they have allegedly overcome the so-called bad press from the press before the New Hampshire primaries. George Bush travels separately with his central staff in a private plane, whereas the press corps travel in an old Access Airplane that needs constant repair and is leaking oil. The communications also come via a press manager and an annoying campaign manager who keeps on harassing the journalists, including the filmmaker.
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Through these actions, the campaign and more so, George Bush comes across as an elitist and an arrogant candidate who is full of himself. This is seen when he tells Pelosi during their first encounter a month after she joined the press-gang to go sit down while during a staged event inside the campaign plane. (10.20-10.38). But the event was made necessary because he had messed up during a stump speech at an event in New Hampshire. The lousy food (Turkey sandwiches) that the press people are getting does not make their opinions change towards him, it just enforces their bad opinions of the man. So despite the heavy spending and campaigning in the state of New Hampshire, George Bush loses to John McCain and it is attributed to this bad media his campaign was getting. The media team correctly points out the flaws in his campaign, including the lack of inclusivity by showing that there are no people of color involved throughout his campaign events in the run-up to the New Hampshire primary. (9.45-10.16)
The Bush campaign changes its strategy by making the candidate use interpersonal communication to become make himself lovable to the media after this loss in New Hampshire which helps Bush win the Republican ticket and the presidency at the end of the year-long tour. This was a strategy copied from the McCain campaign in their bid to overcome the loss. He abandons his private plane and joins the press corps in their own plane. He also begins to interact with the journalists like Pelosi and mingles with them with his press aides and this time, he does not give out press releases through his aides, but he is careful to give them the correct bytes for the television and radio releases. He also reduces the number of photo-ops in response to the loss in New Hampshire and even when Bush falters again in Michigan, he does not stop trying to reach out to the media.
He continues to give Alexandra some small chunks of his time, and he provides memorable one-liners too. When he goes jogging in one of the campaign photo-ops staged by his campaign, Alexandria asks if she could join him on the jog and he responds enthusiastically “Come on girl.” (49.00-49.05).The bad publicity also comes because of his blunders, too, at the podium when making stump speeches. Each time he does that, he goes to mingle with the press corps and charms them with silly things that he does. His interpersonal communication skills come in handy when he starts talking to the interviewer (Pelosi) who even when at 13.54 confesses that she does not like the Bush people, Bush does not take offence but makes a joke out of it.
References
FILM IN REVIEW; 'Journeys With George'. (2003, March 14). Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/14/movies/film-in-review-journeys-with-george.html
"Journeys with George" | On the Media. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/131414-journeys-with-george
YouTube. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u7mhyOVWlg
