Press Gaggle
The term “a gaggle of reporters and camera men” has been cited in print in 1935 and “a gaggle of journalists” has been cited in print in 1971. The “gaggle” of press people takes the same term as a “gaggle” of geese.
A “press gaggle” is an informal off-camera briefing. The White House Press Secretary often holds press gaggles where members of the press corps can informally ask questions. Press gaggles have existed since at least 2002, when a formal White House press release was titled “Press Gaggle with Ari Fleischer September 30, 2002.”
Wiktionary: press gaggle
Etymology
By analogy with a gaggle of geese. First recorded in the briefing sense in the early 2000s.
Noun
press gaggle (plural press gaggles)
1.(US, journalism, politics) An informal off-camera briefing given by a spokesperson or politician.
2.(rare) A noisy crowd of journalists.
dKosopedia
Press gaggle
A gaggle or press gaggle is the nickname given to a White House Press Secretary press conference which is on the record, but disallows videography. Usually, transcripts are made available. The nickname is thought to stem from the the idea that these more freewheeling press sessions, where the talk is much more rapid and free-form, are like a “gaggle of geese” honking.
Wikipedia: Gaggle
A gaggle is a term of venery for a flock of geese that isn’t in flight; in flight, the group can be called a skein.
In terms of geese, a gaggle is equal to at least five geese.
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Press gaggle
A “press gaggle” (as distinct from a press conference or press briefing) is the nickname given to an informal briefing by the White House Press Secretary which (as used by press secretaries for the George W. Bush administration) is on the record, but disallows videography. The term can also be used to refer to the informal interactions between the press and the press secretary that occur before a videotaped press briefing.
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The nickname is thought to stem from the idea that these more freewheeling press sessions, where the talk is much more rapid and free-form, are like a “gaggle of geese” honking. For example, the blog maintained by Newsweek magazine’s political reporters is called The Gaggle; on their main page, their definition for “gaggle” when used to refer to the Washington, D.C. press, is “a flock of reporters pecking at a politician.” Not commonly used in society.
21 April 1935, Boston (MA) Herald, “Laughing Gas,” This Week magazine, pg. 12, col. 4:
But it was not a gaggle of reporters and camera men who entered.
19 August 1957, The Evening Standard (Uniontown, PA), “Movers Have Troubles” by The Staff, pg. 4, col. 6:
There was a gaggle of reporters and photographers there from the Dallas papers, all panting (naturally) to take Miss M.‘s (Actress Jayne Mansfield—ed.) picture.
Google Books
The Progress of Private Lilyworth
By Russell Braddon
London: Joseph
1971
Pg. 160:
At the R.A.F. airfield where he landed there was awaiting him only a congratulatory telegram from Mr Powell, the new Minister of Defence, a gaggle of journalists and two TV reporters—one of them, in cyclamen shirt and black tie, the pundit from Belfast.
Google News Archive
30 June 1973, The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), “As the new James Bond: Roger Moore dazzles” by Jack Kapica, pg. 29, col. 1:
NEW YORK—There is something about James Bond that tickles most everyone’s fancy. But nobody was more tickled than the gaggle of journalists clustered in the New York hotel suite where Roger Moore, the third actor to play Ian Fleming’s natty hero, was due to arrive.
Google News Archive
12 October 1973, St. Petersburg (FL) Times, ‘Spaghetti Record Shattered” by Jack V. Fox (UPI), pg. 14A, col. 1:
The two contestants sat at opposite ends of a table in the Spaghetti Village Restaurant in Hollywood, Calif., before a gaggle of reporters and photographers and a few curious.
Google Books
December 1973, Texas Monthly, pg. 103, col. 1:
Suddenly the gaggle of reporters and cameramen waiting at the terminal raced past Dallas Times Herald executive editor Tom Johnson, who was walking up the sidewalk.
New York (NY) Times
Lewinsky Counts Her Friends, and Enemies
By MELINDA HENNEBERGER
Published: August 07, 1998
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But they also said Ms. Lewinsky has never seen herself as anyone’s victim and described her as a savvy and self-confident woman who is worlds tougher than she has been portrayed. Just turned 25, the onetime White House intern has the steel to wade through a press gaggle without ever dropping her smile.
Washington (DC) Post
Straight Man
George W. Bush’s message is that everything’s under control in a tightly disciplined White House that knows how to keep a secret. Ari Fleischer is the messenger
By Howard Kurtz
Sunday, May 19, 2002; Page W14
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Half an hour later, at his regular 9:45 “gaggle” with reporters—an informal session without television cameras—Fleischer disclosed the phone calls from Enron.
Scoop (New Zealand)
Press Gaggle with Ari Fleischer September 30, 2002
Tuesday, 1 October 2002, 10:48 am
Press Release: The White House
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 30, 2002
Press Gaggle with Ari Fleischer
Aboard Air Force One
Prior to Departure from Texas State Technical College
Waco, Texas
8:44 A.M. CDT
MR. FLEISCHER: All right, let me give you a little bit on today and then some questions you have. When the President gets back to the White House this afternoon, he’s going to have a series of policy briefings focused on the domestic agenda. He’s going to prepare for Wednesday’s conference on missing children. And he will also have a meeting on homeland security, to discuss the status of the legislation and what’s holding it up, and other aspects of protecting the homeland. He’ll have a meeting on faith-based legislation or the CARE Act.
New York (NY) Times
White House Keeps a Grip On Its News
By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: October 14, 2002
When he stands before the blue curtain of the White House press briefing area, Ari Fleischer, President Bush’s press secretary, often seems downright chummy with reporters as they quiz him about the news of the day.
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9:45 am—Mr. Fleischer holds White House ‘‘press gaggle,’’ the regular, brief, off-camera session at which he reads the presidential schedule and fields ...
Washington Monthly
January 30, 2003
Political Animal
By: Kevin Drum
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UPDATE II: According to an email from an “ex-White House grunt”:
“Gaggles” historically refer to informal briefings the press secretary conducts with the press pool rather than the entire press corps. They used to happen in the morning, they were more or less off the record, and their purpose was mostly to exchange information - the president’s schedule and briefing schedule, from the administration side; heads-up on likely topics or early comment on pressing issues, from the news side. Briefings were what everybody knows them to be.
In previous administrations, when the President traveled, sometimes the press secretary would hold a gaggle with the press pool that travels on Air Force One - not every time, but sometimes, and always informally. In this administration, Ari does a gaggle on the plane every time the President goes out of town, and a transcript is made available for press corps members who weren’t on the plane. These mid-air mini-briefings are the “gaggles” you can find transcripts of on the White House website.
Thinking Thoughts: Stuff That Just Occurs
The White House Press Gaggle.
Posted on April 21, 2010 by mackenzieam
First, “gaggle” is a fun word.
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Anyhoo, the White House Press gaggle is something between a formal, daily briefing in the briefing room and an informal, one-on-one, shoot-the-breeze session with the Press Secretary or one of his/her deputies. Before The West Wing, I thought all briefings were in the briefing room. Apparently not.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release July 25, 2012
Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Jay Carney en route New Orleans, LA
Aboard Air Force One
En Route New Orleans, Louisiana
MR. CARNEY: Thank you for joining us this morning as we make our way from Seattle, Washington to New Orleans. As we have been doing now for some time, Jen and I will brief together. I can take your questions on policy and the President’s administration, and Jen can field your questions on the campaign.
ENews Park Forest (IL)
White House Press Gaggle by Jay Carney Aboard Air Force One, August 14, 2012
Tuesday, 14 August 2012 17:48 Press Release
En Route Oskaloosa, Iowa—(ENEWSPF)—August 14, 2012 - 10:52 A.M. CDT
MR. CARNEY: Welcome aboard Press Force One here, the press vehicle as part of the President’s motorcade, as we make our way through Iowa on this glorious day—day two of our trip.