Steven Thomma, White House correspondent for the McClatchy Newspapers Washington Bureau, offers perspective on the changing ways the White House uses technology and media to tell its story in his talk “The White House Message Machine: How it Spins Faster Than Ever.”
The event begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Thomma is the 2010 Winner of the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. A reception will follow the free program.
When announcing their decision to award Thomma the Ford Prize, the judges stated, “In his reporting Steven Thomma demonstrates a clear understanding that, not the first year, but the second year in office for a new president is the more accurate measure of his leadership … he also made excellent use of expert sources to provide a layer of analysis that stood out among his competition.”
Thomma will describe the communications operation within the White House and how it blends old and new techniques including technology as a means to cut through a polarized partisan landscape to reach an array of media outlets.
Thomma was assigned to cover the White House for the first time in 1997 and named chief political correspondent in 2001. He received the Aldo Beckman Award for distinguished White House coverage for his campaign work in 2000, and the National Press Club’s award for best regional reporting in 1994. Before coming to Washington, he worked for the Pioneer Press in Minnesota, the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette in Indiana and City News Bureau in Chicago.
