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In the United States, a spin room, also known as spin row or spin alley, is an area in which
In the United States, a spin room, also known as spin row or spin alley, is an area in which reporter
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
s can speak with debate
Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...
participants and/or their representatives after a debate. The name refers to the fact that the participants will attempt to "spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles
* Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...
" or influence the perception of the debate among the assembled reporters. The benefit for reporters is that they quickly get in-person interviews with debaters or their representatives, complete with audio, video, and photos. For a U.S. presidential debate, the number of reporters in the spin room can number into the thousands.
History
The earliest recorded spin room was set up by the Reagan Campaign in 1984. In a hotel banquet room, campaign officials spoke on the record withtalking point
A talking point is a pre-established message or formula used in the field of political communication, sales and commercial or advertising communication. The message is coordinated ''a priori'' to remain more or less invariable regardless of which ...
s playing up their own candidate's debate performance and minimizing opponent Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928April 19, 2021) was the 42nd vice president of the United States serving from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Minnesota from 1964 to 1976. ...
's success, despite many observers believing Mondale had won. This operation was dubbed the "spin patrol."
Operation
A spin room may also be active before a debate. A common form of pre-debate spin is for each side to try to raise expectations for the opposing debater and lower expectations for their own team, a pursuit known as playing the "expectations game". During the 2020 U.S. general election debates, in order to reduce person-to-person viral contagion during theCOVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the physical spin room was entirely supplanted by digital campaign operations and remote interviews with media surrogates while reporters watched the debate from home.
Criticism
Some observers have criticized the overt nature of themedia manipulation
Media manipulation refers to orchestrated campaigns in which actors exploit the distinctive features of broadcasting mass communications or digital media platforms to mislead, misinform, or create a narrative that advances their interests and ag ...
in spin rooms, and the media's willing participation in it. Defenders have said reporters know it's scripted and aren't persuaded by the spin, but rather, they use the talking points to analyze candidates' strategies. Spin rooms can occasionally include moments of candor, such as when presidential candidate Rick Perry
James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...
admitted that he had "stepped in it" during a debate response that became known as his "oops" moment.
Spin rooms have also been portrayed as outdated in an era of instant online reaction from all quarters before a debate is even over. Focus group
A focus group is a group interview involving a small number (sometimes up to ten) of demographically predefined participants. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are used in market researc ...
s and instant post-debate "snap polls" attempt to provide a more scientific method than spin rooms in determining who has won a debate.
See also
*Managing the news
Managing the news is the deliberate influencing of the presentation of information within the news media. The expression ''managing the news'' is often used in a negative sense. For example, people or organizations that wish to lessen the publi ...
* Propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
* Framing
* Public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
References
{{Reflist, 2 Debating Politics Presidential elections in the United States