It’s no secret that the manner in which news and information flows from political leaders to the citizenry has changed radically over the past few years – and Governor Christie’s post-budget day schedule provides a prime example of that change.
In years gone by, governors, presidents, even mayors would follow up their major speeches, such as budget addresses and States of the State, with a series of public events and photo ops to drive home the main points and new initiatives contained in the speech.
On the day after Tuesday’s budget address, however, Christie had only two events on his public schedule – -a 7:05 a.m. inthttps://richleeonline.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/a-sign-of-the-times/erview on NBC’s The Today Show, followed by a 7:30 a.m. interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
It’s not hard to argue with the Governor’s logic. Given the cutbacks that have diminished personnel and resources for New Jersey’s news outlets, Christie probably reached far more New Jerseyans by appearing on two national television programs than he would have had he conducted three or four public events. He also didn’t hurt his national reputation since the shows gave him national exposure.
Christie is not the first New Jersey governor to take advantage of the national talk shows. His predecessor, Jon Corzine, was a frequent guest on several popular programs which also allowed him to reach large numbers of New Jerseayns who were among the viewing audiences.
richleeonline 