communications

White House Communications Director

Photograph by warrenskion Flickr.

The communications office also works closely with cabinet level departments and other executive agencies in order to create a coherent White House Communications Director strategy through which the President s message can be disseminated. With the growing importance of the Internet and New Media in communications terms of Presidential communication, the Office of Communications is having White House Communications Director to branch out, and this have been given an added impetus by the election of Barack Obama who made large use of the internet, and Integrated marketing communications more specifically social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to reach out to his supporters in order to solicit donations and spread his campaign White House Communications Director message. In the popular television show The West Wing, a series that portrayed a United States Government administration, Toby Ziegler (played by Richard Schiff) served as President Bartlet s Communications Director. . The White House Director of Communications, also known as Assistant to the President for Communications, is part of the senior White House Communications Director staff of the President of the United States, and is responsible for developing and promoting the agenda of the President and leading its media campaign.

A communications strategy must be devised to promote the President s agenda throughout all media outlets. The Communications Director works closely with the White House Press Secretary, who was typically a co-worker in the president s campaign.

For instance, during the 1992 Clinton Presidential Campaign, George Stephanopoulos was Deputy Campaign Manager, who became the Communications Director after Clinton s election. As the President s voice and vision must be clear, the Communications Director must ensure that all aspects of communications are covered to ensure that the administration s message has been delivered successfully. The Communications Director is usually given an office in the West Wing of the White House. The current Director of Communications is Dan Pfeiffer , who replaced Anita Dunn in November 2009. Historically, the position of White House Communications Director is given to a senior public relations staff member of the candidate s campaign staff.

This can include, but certainly are not limited to, the State of the Union address, televised press conferences, statements to the press, and radio addresses. Often this is either the Deputy Campaign Manager or the Campaign Communications Director.

The director, along with his or her staff, works on speeches such as the inaugural address and the State of the Union Address.