OPINION Page 4 Friday, February 11, 1983 The Michigan Daily Can the president survive the media? By Norman Sandler WASHINGTON - Relations between the White House and the news media have been on a roller coaster for years. But at midterm, President Reagan has raised new questions about their symbiotic and sometimes com- bative co-existence. Such questions always are vexing for two in- stitutions that so depend - and use - one another. BUT DEPUTY White house press secretary Larry Speakes himself raised the level of debate last week by accusing the media of a "steady denigration of the president." "My question to you," Speakes said in a speech, "is can the modern presidency survive the modern media?" Reagan enjoyed a much-talked-about "honeymoon" for much of his first term - not because reporters went easy on him, but because he appeared to be making progress toward the goals of his presidency. WELL INTO his second year, Reagan battled Congress on issues ranging from spending cuts to tax hikes to the sale of AWACS radar planes - and won. But all good things must come to an end. Af- ter 20 months, impatience with policies that failed to end the longest recession since World War II and the worst unemployment since the Depression weakened Reagan's "political muscle. plained he was up to his "keister" with public airings of what he and his advisers were doing in private. Even after issuing new guidelines for contac- ts with reporters and embarking on a public relations offensive to show Reagan as com- passionate, concerned and in control, some in the White House still complain of a lack of direction. ONE AIDE says decisions about where Reagan should go and what he should say are made too hastily. Print reporters complain, with merit, that the White House caters to television images in planning Reagan's outings. Dart of the problem is that Reagan is at times his own worst enemy. The "Great Com- municator" in fact has been spotty in his recent speech deliveries, even when aided by teleprompter. The other part of the problem is how the White House handles his gaffes. THE MOST recent example was his trip to Boston. Until minutes before his departure, Reagan was home free. The network news would show just what his image-shapers wanted: Reagan with black job trainees and hoisting a beer in a bar in a working-class neighborhood. But as he rambled on in response to a final question from high-tech business executives, Reagan raised the idea of abolishing the cor- porate income tax. THE PRESIDENT of the United States, w had just sought to demonstrate his concern blacks in Roxbury and working stiffs in Dor- chester was suggesting a massive tax relief for corporate America. The off-the-cuff remark altered the com- plexion of the Boston visit. The White House, sensing political trouble, first hedged in ex- plaining the remark, then made the mistake of pretending it did not exist. M Then Speakes made another all-too-comnnon mistake: He tried to deflect attention from Reagan's own blunder by attacking the media Speakes said reporters, knowing Regga made the statement off-the-cuff, should have soft-peddled the story, "rather than licking your chops and clapping your hands and doing back flips." Speakes has the unenviable task of having to face reporters seeking clarification ;of Reagan's impromptu and sometimes confusing remarks. But refusing to address them needlessly raises tensions. Perhaps overly protective presidential assistants should rely more on Reagan himse to straighten out the tangles he sometime creates. Sandler wrote this article for United Pres International. AP Photo Reagan and the media: Coexistence or combat? His defeats at the end of the 97th Congress were untimely and compounded by Republican losses in the November elections. AS REAGAN neared midterm, the budget process - normally completed by early January - labored on, beset by indecision and indications that political realities would force him to "stray the course" rather than "stay the course." Coupled with an approval rating lower- than his predecessors, this produced a rash of critical midterm assessments. Reagan com- Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCIII, No. 109 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Inaction on human rights N OT SINCE THE Carter admini- To its credit, the Reagan ad- stration has the United States ministration has recognized the firmly vowed to actively promote arrogance of trying to impose rigid human rights around the world among American conceptions of government both its allies and enemies. In issuing and social policy on other nations. But its annual report on human rights, the in its soft-pedalling of human rights, it Reagan administration has said it has abandoned the very people who would seek an active human rights look to the United States as a symbol of policy. One hopes the statement con- hope. tains more substance than rhetoric. The United States needs an active Not surprisingly, the 1,300-page policy using economic aid and report to Congress detailed brutal diplomatic influence as leverage to violations in dozens of nations around gain reform. This policy would work the world. As usual, the report concen- best in such nations as Guatemala and trated heavily on nations generally an- El Salvador where U.S. aid carries a tagonistic to U.S. interests. But com- lot of weight and where past abuses pared to past Reagan administration have been rampant. reports, which cursorily discussed As the report states, torture and violations in El Salvador, Brazil, and brutality continue to be common forms South Africa - with whom Reagan is of political control practiced by nations trying to improve relations - this around the world. In no way can the year's report gave more serious atten- United States have a very large effect tion to problems in friendly nations. in reducing that violence. But so far, Could this represent a change in among the nations with which the policy? Probably not, but it does United States can have the most in- represent a change in tone and perhaps fluence, it has preferred not to make a willingness by the administration to waves instead of pursuing a more for- see that the United States can pursue ceful human rights policy. Unless that an active policy without alienating im- policy changes, next year's report will portant friends. be even more discouraging. "IT'S THE WOST