You Paid For It: Tough Reporters Study

April 4, 2002 -- As most people know, asking government officials for answers to tough questions is part of a reporter's job description.

So, a National Science Foundation study looking at whether White House reporters have become more adversarial sounds a bit strange to reporters and critics. Even more surprising: the study cost taxpayers $180,000.

The press has a long tradition of sparring with government officials — as many American presidents know well.

"There has always been an adversary relationship between the press and the president," former President Nixon once said.

At President Bush's first press conference last February, veteran reporter Helen Thomas — considered the dean of the White House Press Corps — grilled President Bush about his "faith-based initiative" plan to aid the nation's churches. Thomas asked the president why he was breaking down the barriers between church and state.

"Helen, I strongly respect the separation of church and state," President Bush told her.

"You wouldn't have a religious office in the White House if you did," Thomas replied.

"I didn't get to finish my answer, with all due respect," Bush shot back.

Nasty Exchanges Not Unusual

The presidential press conference is a major opportunity for reporters to ask the tough questions, and that is often what happens. CNN's Wolf Blitzer pulled no punches when asking President Clinton about sending American troops to Serbia during the Kosovo refugee crisis in April 1999.

"What goes through your mind knowing you are going to, in effect, authorize the killing of these people for questionable military gain?" Blitzer asked.

Such questions, and the follow-up questions sometimes turn into nasty exchanges. Former President George Bush Sr. cut off a reporter who had been trying repeatedly to get a question answered.

"I am very sorry, you are dealing with someone who has made up his mind and we are trying to be courteous to everyone," Bush said. "Now, if you have a question for one of the other three then ask it. If not, sit down!"

Docile Reporters?

Reporters say that in order to get a straight answer, they have to be aggressive.

"If reporters were docile little boys and girls and spoke only when spoken to they wouldn't be doing their job … except handing out a press release," ABCNEWS' Sam Donaldson said. "And that is not the job of a reporter, whether it's the White House or City Hall!"

The researchers looked at the evolution of press conference questions, trying to figure out if the questions had become more adversarial.

"We don't need to spend $180,000 to find out why the press should be asking tough questions of the White House press secretary," said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste.

Rated for Bluntness

The author of the study said that it is important to understand the relationship between the media and presidential communications.

"Our project is the first attempt to systematically examine the questions that journalists ask of the president and how they evolved over time," UCLA Professor Steve Clayman said.

Clayman is having students review transcripts from 180 press conferences, covering all the presidents from Eisenhower to Clinton.

They are rating 5,000 questions for bluntness, aggressiveness and hostility. The early findings are no surprise.

"The general trend seems to be somewhat less deference and greater adversarial-ness over time," Clayton said. But that finding is not exactly a stop-the-presses story for the former reporters and White House press staff.

'Less Science, More Common Sense'

"This one was pretty easy to figure out using less science and more common sense," said former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart.

Donaldson agrees, saying the proof is in the newscasts that Americans watch.

"Do you need to spend money to find out that adversarial relationship increased over the years? Watching TV you knew that," he said.

But Clayman promises the study may also be controversial.

Carter Started It?

"Our findings will challenge a lot of cherished myths that have grown up around presidential press conferences," he said.

Most people believe that reporters became adversarial during the Nixon Watergate years, when the press essentially brought down a president.

"Are you running for something?" Nixon asked CBS News' Dan Rather in an infamous exchange in March 1974.

"No, Mr. President, are you?" Rather responded.

Clayman said that so far, his study shows that it was not until the Carter years that the press really turned nasty. His study is ongoing, and his conclusions are not final.

But critics say that there is no need to keep spending another taxpayer dime.

"If his conclusion is they've become more hostile, I could have told him that and not charged him," Lockhart said.

"Maybe I'd charge half of that," he added, laughing.

This is the second in a three-part Good Morning America series called "You Paid for It," in which ABCNEWS' Bob Woodruff took a look at some of the things your tax dollars are paying for. The series included Your Tax Dollars Help Fund Squirrel Mating Research and You Paid For It: A Study Of Who Smiles More.