The "White House Press Room's Own Academic": Martha Joynt Kumar

Reading the NYT Sunday Magazine profile of Tony Snow, we came across a description of Towson University professor Martha Joynt Kumar, who's been attending the WH press briefings since 1975 as an observer.  We wanted to learn more about Prof. Kumar and her impressions of the WH press operation, and she graciously agreed to answer our questions:

The recent New York Times profile of Tony Snow described you as the “White House press room’s own academic.” Fair description? I would describe myself as an academic who studies White House communications operations and the relationship of the White House and the press.  Much of my recent work has been for a book that is currently in the copy editing stage, "Managing the Message: The People, Policies, and Politics Behind the President's Message."  It will be published in the summer by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

According to the Times, you’ve been attending White House press briefings since 1975, as an observer and scholar. How did you first get started attending briefings? I started going to briefings in December, 1975, when a coauthor and I were working on a book on the press secretary (Portraying the President: The White House and the News Media).  We found we learned a great deal about White House communications by observing the briefing and then talking to reporters about their work and White House operations.  We also got a sense from the sessions of who was and who was not managing White House communications.  Attending those briefings led us to other locations in the White House for information about those involved in creating and managing presidential messages. 

How often do you actually attend the daily briefings? Do you attend the off-air daily gaggles as well? I attend both the gaggle and the briefing as I write about both sessions.  I attend several sessions a week.

AFTER THE JUMP: Kumar on what makes a WH flack successful, how the press treats the WH press deputies, and which press secretaries were press corps favorites.