What does a White House press secretary do?
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secretary → do → What
The White House press secretary is one of the most important public-facing jobs in any administration.
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secretary → face → administration
Yet it is one with no job description, no required qualifications, no vetting by Congress.
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it → require → Congress
And as the most recent press secretary found out, you can be fired from the position just as quickly as you were hired.
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you → find → position
But the press secretary also answers to the public, says former Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby.
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Kirby → answer → public
He served during both the Obama and Biden administrations.
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He → serve → administrations
"You are expected to be the president's voice and sometimes the president's face on issues on a daily basis, which means you have to have access to the president," Kirby told NPR's Ayesha Roscoe on Weekend Edition Sunday.
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Kirby → expect → Edition
"You have to know what the president's thinking about, whatever the policy issue is, but you also are accountable to the American people."
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you → have → people
Kirby said that a press secretary's job is to "be honest" and tell Americans as much and as quickly as possible while also taking tough questions from the press.
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job → say → press
This is where Katie Zacharia, who was fired last week, ran into trouble.
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who → fire → trouble
Just two days into the job she faced scrutiny over how she handled questions from reporters during her first briefing.
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she → face → briefing
Zacharia was visibly nervous, she took only a handful of questions and she largely stuck to a script of talking points.
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she → take → points
But it was describing herself as a lawyer that earned her the extra scrutiny.
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that → describe → scrutiny
It was eventually revealed that Zacharia had failed the California bar exam, which meant that she was not an attorney.
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she → reveal → exam
Five days after starting the job, she was out.
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she → start → job
Press secretaries are not required to be attorneys but they do have to be able to hold their own with reporters.
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they → require → reporters
Sean Spicer – one of several White House press secretaries during Trump's first administration – had a combative relationship with the press.
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Spicer → have → press
Spicer regularly sparred with members of the media.
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Spicer → spar → media
He gained notoriety (while being challenged him about the size of the crowds at Trump's inauguration) when he told reporters, "sometimes we can disagree with the facts."
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we → gain → facts
NBC's "Saturday Night Live" took particular glee in Spicer's animosity toward the press.
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Live → take → press
Actor Melissa McCarthy, who portrayed Spicer, mimicked their contentious interactions with such lines as "I came out here to punch you in the face."
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I → portray → face
The role is not one designated by Congress but it does follow nearly 100 years of presidential custom and tradition.
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it → designate → custom
According to the White House Historical Association by the late 1800s, reporters were beginning to cover the White House as part of a regular beat.
uncertain
reporters → accord → beat
In 1929, President Herbert Hoover appointed the journalist George Akerson to speak on his behalf.
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Hoover → appoint → behalf
Akerson is regarded as the first official White House press secretary.
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Akerson → regard → secretary
Since then, 37 people have held the role.
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people → hold → role
In 1993, Dee Dee Myers became the first woman press secretary.
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Myers → become → 1993
Karine Jean-Pierre in 2022 made history as the first Black press secretary in White House as well as the first openly gay person in the role.
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Pierre → make → role
While traveling with then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981, White House press secretary James Brady was shot during an assassination attempt on the president.
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Brady → travel → president
The briefing room where press secretaries stand behind the podium and take questions from reporters is named after Brady.
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secretaries → stand → Brady
A briefing is like "intellectual chess," former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer under George W. Bush previously told NPR.
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Fleischer → tell → NPR
He said the hardest part of the job is knowing what not to say.
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part → say → what
The Aporia
