The Press and the Committee System

Abstract

Committees rely on the press to inform the public about their proceedings and decisions; the press relies on committees, their members and staffs as sources of information. Committee members expect their committee work to further their career and to enhance their reputation. Reporters, in addition to competing for the news, feel they have a critical function to perform. What results is a complicated relationship with ambivalences on both sides. An unholy alliance between the press, committee and staff can exist, with the advantage that issues and facts are brought to light, publicized and needed action is taken. However, newsmen may be used by the staff to float an idea or they may become coopted by the committee point of view and report the story less than fairly. Similarly, committees may be seduced into going for headlines rather than doing less sensational, but equally important, work. Both committees and the press tend to take shortcuts because of the limits on their time. The system the press uses to cover Congress favors attention to subjects and issues rather than to the workings of Congress, itself; Congress, preferring that the press know only that which it wants to disclose, has institutionalized the attitude by closing the doors to some committee hearings. This brings about a conflict in the relationship, as does criticism from the press. In the end, the mutual interdependence of Congress and the press contributes to the good points and the failings of each. While reform would help, the relationship is ultimately based on human values of trust, fairness and responsibility—which rest with the individual.