Presidential Press Secretaries in Times of Crisis

The next program in the weekly Brookings/Harvard Forum Series on the news media coverage of the current crisis will feature Marlin Fitzwater, press secretary to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and Ron Nessen, press secretary to President Gerald R. Ford, and other panelists. The discussion will include the role and special responsibilities of government spokesmen during times of crisis.

Stephen Hess of Brookings and Marvin Kalb of Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center have designed the series to create a forum in which journalists and government officials can meet to discuss government/press problems and conflicting interests. The series will also provide a venue to consider other media issues that relate to the current anti-terrorism campaign, such as the use of new media technology and the economics of providing adequate war coverage.

The program is co-sponsored by Brookings and the Washington office of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.