The Wall Street Journal reports (full text here) on a story that we shall discuss on Monday. An aide to California state attorney general Jerry Brown -- a former governor who is running to get his old job back -- recorded conversations between Brown and several reporters without telling them. The staffer quit, but the recordings have become public. They offer a window on how politicians deal with the press. At certain points, Brown is explicitly trying to shape coverage. See this exchange with Bob Jabro of AP:
BJ: Anything else, sir?
JB: No, I think. They’re a little more inflammatory than I am so they get higher up on the damn story. So I gotta say something like “shocking.”
BJ: You’ve been around this job too long!
JB: What should we say? Shocking and…
Gerber: To me it was “smoke and mirrors” was the quote.
BJ: Smoke and mirrors is good, right. Well, thank you sir, I appreciate it.
JB: Play with it and if you need any more rhetorical fusillade, call me, will ya? Because I don’t want this to be an unbalanced story. I want equal firepower on both sides.
BJ: Thank you sir, I appreciate it.
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