Bush Clarifies His Newspaper Reading
Habits, Sort Of
E&P
December 13, 2005
NEW YORK Reports on President Bush's reading habits in regard to newspapers
have ranged from "almost never" to "six or seven a day." Some have said he does
read the paper every day--but only the sports pages. In one of his several
chats with the president on Monday, NBC anchor Brian Williams asked him
directly about it.
From the transcript:
WILLIAMS: "Once and for all -- and I know you've had some fun with members
of the press on this subject -- how much television news do you watch? How much
do you read the morning papers, news magazines? How much do you see in an
average week?"
BUSH: "I don't see a lot of the news. Every morning I look at the newspaper.
I can't say I've read every single article in the newspaper. But I definitely
know what's in the news. Occasionally, I watch television. I don't want to hurt
your feelings, but it's occasionally. I'm working at that point, as are
you.
"But I'm very aware of what's in the news. I'm aware because I see clips. I
see summaries. I have people on my staff that walk in every morning and say,
'This is what's -- this is how I see it. This is what's brewing today,' on both
the domestic and international side. Frankly, it is probably part of my own
fault for needling people, but it's a myth to think I don't know what's going
on. And it's a myth to think that I'm not aware that there is opinions that
don't agree with mine. Because I'm fully aware of that. . . .
"I read the newspaper. I mean, I can tell you what the headlines are. I must
confess, if I think the story is, like, not a fair appraisal, I'll move on. But
I know what the story's about."
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