I don't often get into the weeds of making news, but I think the craft is worth examining. I'll share it from my side of the equation – the providing of information.
News comes from information. That is, actual events that have happened in real time, real statistics and figures, you know, facts. People like me – in public affairs, public information or public relations fields - work to provide that information. Often called spokespeople (or spin doctors, or flacks, or worse), we are responsible for telling the story for our bosses and representing our organizations truthfully and at the same time in the best possible light.
I have a few personal biases in the practice of this craft. Wherever possible, I am not the person you see on camera or who gets quoted. Because no one wants to hear from the spokesperson. The journalist and the public want to hear from the CEO, the general, the fighter pilot, the police chief, or the senator. Not the hired help.
Always, always, I prepare my principals to work with journalists and understand their job and their deadlines. Every interview is an opportunity, not a confrontation. Even in a crisis situation, a media encounter is an opportunity to inform, educate, and alleviate tension and worry.
Finally, never guess, and never, ever, never lie. Non-negotiable. One can always say, "I don't have that information right now," and get back to the reporter shortly afterward with the answer. And lying on the record is simply unacceptable, whether in the public or private sector. I won't do it, and I won't allow my clients to do it.
That doesn't mean you can't be smart about how you handle hard questions. Good interview subjects do their homework. Even providing clean copy that makes good television can be an art to itself. I remember one national news producer calling me exasperated about a New Mexico story that had gone viral. "Can you call these people and see if they will hire you? They need media training desperately. No one can get a coherent sound bite out of them."
Good news content comes from good news production. And there are two sides of that equation: the production side and the information side. The production side has taken a beating in the last 20 years as newsroom staff has been cut and cut and cut again.
One of the unfortunate side effects of the erosion of our newsrooms is the proliferation of non-journalistic content creators willing to say anything for cash. Rush Limbaugh started out saying he was an "entertainer"; eventually he started believing his own hype and spawned a legion of non-fact-based but equally strident imitators (see: Tucker Carlson). In the influencer-sphere, a certain class of podcasters stoop to staggering lows for clicks and money; I've written previously about so-called right-wing influencers directly bankrolled by Russia (this behavior is not confined to the right side of the political aisle, I want to be clear).
At my agency we have embraced digital media. We produce podcasts. We track aggregate data for our clients for all the good feels: engagement, views, clicks, and shares. But we may become an anachronism in 2025 and beyond: we still deal in just the facts.
Both sides of the equation – production and information – must be balanced. The digital explosion of the last 20 years has presented numerous challenges and placed significant power in what had previously been a silent partner: the audience. As the number of digital outlets exploded, consumers of news became more particular.
50 years ago, Americans read a daily newspaper and watched the evening news as primary sources. Some of us also listened to the radio (I, for one, grew up in a radio family). That was about it. In New Mexico, our newspaper and television choices were severely limited by location, although in Grant County where I grew up we had the benefit of getting broadcasts from both the Albuquerque and El Paso television network affiliates.
It wouldn't be until the 1990s that 24-hour cable news really took hold, and this changed how we looked at news significantly. We quickly grew accustomed to flipping on CNN at 2 am to watch missiles being launched at the latest Mideast hotspot or surfing over to The Weather Channel to see if Jim Cantore had arrived at the hurricane's eye yet.
The late 1990s also brought us a bellwether for the current era: The Drudge Report. A bare bones, black-and-white Courier font blog-slash-news-aggregator site by Matt Drudge, The Drudge Report launched the digital news and digital influencer era that drives information operations today. In-the-moment updates? Check. Marked political bias? Check. Willingness to spread unproven conspiracy theories? All the checks!
The Drudge Report softened us up for the sludge clogging the information superhighway in 2025. There's something for everyone. There're facts: The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USAFacts, NewsNation, and other such basic news sources. There are news outlets that are heavy on commentary and opinion that embrace a specific bias: Fox News Channel and MSNBC are the most basic examples. And then there are the influencers who don't even attempt to be accurate or factual. They tend to be on the fringes of the political spectrum like Tony Michaels or Laura Loomer.
What's interesting in 2025 is the sudden embracing of the influencers by government. The White House press briefings are now packed with them, and the traditional fact-based press, not so much (sorry, Associated Press; being correct will only get you so far). The Pentagon, which has had an open-door, no-escort press policy since it opened in 1943, just required members of the Pentagon press pool to now be escorted 24/7 for "security" and to "prevent leaks."
This last bit amuses me. Leaks don't happen because the press are in the Pentagon. Leaks happen because government personnel in the Pentagon leak information to the press. Let's remember that the reporter from The Atlantic was the one who disclosed to the government he had been erroneously placed on a confidential Signal group chat about airstrikes against the Houthis, not the other way around. Having an escort will not stop leaks any more than a "positive-pitch" flat roof does (fellow Pueblo-style homeowners will appreciate this metaphor).
It seems in this administration there are photo ops aplenty (complete with costumes at DHS), and freestyle media availabilities that resemble an open-mic poetry night. But these are largely one-way communication events. There have been very few press conferences from any of the Cabinet departments since January.
In a time when Americans have more information than they know what to do with, our government seems less interested than ever in providing it. Will we notice?
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican for 36 years, she became an independent upon reading the 2024 Republican platform. She lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and one of cat. She can be reached at
