Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Mr. Obama???

by Paul Giacobbe

Is it disrespectful for news reporters to refer to the President of the United States as “Mister Obama”?  One NBC10 viewer (and apparently a lot of other people) believe it is.

“I was surprised – and EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED –  that (in a recent report) the NEW President was referred to as “MR.” Obama instead of “PRESIDENT” Obama – a title that he has deserved because he is indeed the President of this country,” emailed Katherine Tobin.  “I have often heard news broadcasters refer to President Bush as Mr. Bush – and I felt it was disrespectful – and thought it came from society’s opinion that President Bush was a very big disappointment.  BUT – when I hear an educated journalist refer to the President of the United States as “MR. Obama”  I have to wonder if the broadcasters and news editors have lost sight of what showing respect is all about.  Whether a person has voted for a candidate for President or not – I find it extremely disrespectful that news broadcasters refer to an important individual in such a cavalier manner.  How can we expect our young people to show respect to adults and others in important positions when those who bring us the news don’t.”

Ms. Tobin is not alone in her concern.  Both newspapers and broadcasters have responded to news consumer complaints and inquiries about the manner in which the president is referred to in news reports.

Alicia Shepard, the ombudsman for National Public Radio, recently responded on line to a similar complaint from an NPR listener who thought that President Bush was referred to as ‘President Bush” while the new president is being referred to as “Mr. Obama.”
“NPR has used Mister as the alternative term of respect on second (and subsequent) reference to the President of the United States for decades. I personally have been Washington editor for three presidents and we have done it consistently through this time. Just as consistent have been the letters, phone calls and emails from people who do not believe what I just said. They insist we always called the previous president ‘President So and So’ on every reference and that our alleged failure to do so with the current president indicates disrespect.

It is difficult to convince people their memories are faulty, and even transcripts sometimes do not convince them. One nice thing about the digital age is that people can actually go on line, call up actual audio from earlier this month, or last month, and hear us saying Mr. Bush, which we did every day.“  http://www.npr.org/ombudsman/2009/01/mr_obama_mormons_and_susan_sta_1.html

The New York Times, NBC News and the Associated Press appear to follow this same format, using “President Obama” in the first reference in a story and “Mr. Obama” in subsequent references.

Interestingly, the Washington Post appears to make first reference as “President Obama” and subsequent references simply “Obama.”  This is not unique to presidential references, but to others as well, using a title in the first reference and a last name only in subsequent references.

Chris Lanni, the assistant news director at NBC10, says the station does not follow specific written guidelines with respect to presidential references, but says “it is generally understood that on first reference we use his title along with his name.  We then use variations, depending on how many times he’s mentioned in a single script, in an effort to avoid repetition (The President, Mr. Obama and, for military stories, Command in Chief, etc.).  Using “Mister” is not meant as a sign of disrespect and is in fact common practice in newsrooms across the country.“ Lanni makes reference to the CBS News website which explains that network’s policy of using “Mister” in subsequent references to the president.  http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/02/03/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4772225.shtml

It can be, as Ms. Tobin suggests, somewhat disconcerting to hear the President of the United States referred to simply as a “mister,” but it is more important that whatever a news organization’s policy it be applied uniformly and consistently so that each succeeding president is referred to similarly by each reporter within that organization.
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NBC10 provides the space for this blog, but the opinions are mine alone – Paul Giacobbe.