You know, I had the feeling I'd be posting this Note even as I was chipping away on my last Update. "Gaggle" holds one meaning for a goose, another for a journailst. Although, truth be told, there is an unconfortably common thread between both.
Let's start by defining another media term, "Avail," short for availability. If someone is willing to talk to us after an event or announcement (and let's face it, who in Washington doesn't want to expound further upon what they just spent 30 minutes expaining?), their press team will let us know that there will be an Avail afterward. This is often a good chance to ask a specific question or two that may require follow-ups. Generally, there is some order to the Q&A session.
The Gaggle is a much-better attended, but much-less dignified, version of the Avail used when many correspondents and reporters want a piece of someone. The media is herded together, securely corralled, and left to wait patiently for our quarry. Then, once said luminary arrives to face the cameras, the questions and queries come flying from all quarters. The process is potentially unsettling to the uninitiated, like Dr. Chu, and certainly uncivilized for even the well-adjusted.
Adding to the indignity is the fact that we're all so damn competitive that we let ourselves get hopped up on adrenaline in our rush to wedge in a question, the result of which is outright shouting to defeat the cacophony of undoubtedly less-insightful questions being flung about so carelessly.
This is merely an objective observation, but this journalist was the very first to shout at...ah, that is, have his question successfully recognized by Steven Chu at that particular Gaggle. Though I think that's less a testament to my tenacity than it is the result of being 6'4" and having played enough basketball to know how to box out your opponents.
I took this pic with Ian McAllister's cell (he's in the kelly green sweater) of The Assembled Media in the subterranean depths of the Washington Renaissance Hotel about 5 minutes before Secretary Chu broke free from a meeting. The Gaggle looked, and in this case smelled, like a small horde of hoofed herbivores.
Let's start by defining another media term, "Avail," short for availability. If someone is willing to talk to us after an event or announcement (and let's face it, who in Washington doesn't want to expound further upon what they just spent 30 minutes expaining?), their press team will let us know that there will be an Avail afterward. This is often a good chance to ask a specific question or two that may require follow-ups. Generally, there is some order to the Q&A session.
The Gaggle is a much-better attended, but much-less dignified, version of the Avail used when many correspondents and reporters want a piece of someone. The media is herded together, securely corralled, and left to wait patiently for our quarry. Then, once said luminary arrives to face the cameras, the questions and queries come flying from all quarters. The process is potentially unsettling to the uninitiated, like Dr. Chu, and certainly uncivilized for even the well-adjusted.
Adding to the indignity is the fact that we're all so damn competitive that we let ourselves get hopped up on adrenaline in our rush to wedge in a question, the result of which is outright shouting to defeat the cacophony of undoubtedly less-insightful questions being flung about so carelessly.
This is merely an objective observation, but this journalist was the very first to shout at...ah, that is, have his question successfully recognized by Steven Chu at that particular Gaggle. Though I think that's less a testament to my tenacity than it is the result of being 6'4" and having played enough basketball to know how to box out your opponents.
I took this pic with Ian McAllister's cell (he's in the kelly green sweater) of The Assembled Media in the subterranean depths of the Washington Renaissance Hotel about 5 minutes before Secretary Chu broke free from a meeting. The Gaggle looked, and in this case smelled, like a small horde of hoofed herbivores.
The Chu Gaggle. Washington Renaissance Hotel. Wednesday, February 18th, 2009.
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