Government PR pros and reporters are really mean to each other
The relationship between the two sides has never been more contentious, reports Politico. And a hallmark of this bitter relationship is the prevalence of the F-bomb.
At least that’s what Politico‘s Dylan Byers and John F. Harris observe in a big story about the bitter divide between the two sides:
“It is one of the signature developments of Washington during the Obama years: a flourishing F-bomb culture, one that has spread far beyond the White House and now pervades government-media relations in both parties, all across the capital.
“The close 2012 presidential campaign has been an especially ideal environment for this new mind-set of nonstop combat—marked by blazing email trails, streaked with profanity and accusations of incompetence and bad faith.”
According to Byers and Harris, social media, the 24-hours news cycle, and the emerging popularity of the “gaffe” story are putting intense pressure upon PR pros and reporters, alike. And they’re taking out their frustrations on each other in ways uncommon to communicators and journalists in years past.
Veteran Democratic press secretary Joe Lockhart told Politico:
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