Setting the Agenda in the Courtroom

Setting the agenda when it comes to a lawsuit can be tricky.  As Clark Judge stressed, “the heart of our approach is to start early.”

Determining the message can be especially tricky, when everyone claims to be on the same side. That’s what I learned today at a conference on immigration reform organized by the Independent Women’s Forum and Georgetown Law School.

As most debates over immigration are, it was a hot-tempered conversation.  But I’ve never seen so much agreement from people who claim to disagree with each other.  That’s because both sides alleged the new Arizona law has been mis-characterized by the press and were now trying to set the record straight.

It’s clear that getting the message out quickly, clearly, and accurately can be an uphill battle. Too often the facts are distorted, the picture is watered-down, and the debate has been lost before it’s even made it to the courtroom.

At the White House Writers Group we take care to make sure we get ahead of the media train so that we’re setting the agenda, not the other side.