One of the duties of Gov. Nikki Haley’s press office is to compile the chief executive’s weekly schedule and email it to media members and others interested in the governor’s plans for the immediate future.
Haley’s schedule is often light on substance – the notice for this week, for example, has just a single event – so the press office has taken to recapping some of Haley’s activities from the previous week.
It’s understood that some days are going to be busier than others, but one has to wonder what the point in some of the prior recaps is.
Take the listing for Tuesday, March 27, as detailed by the governor’s office:
- 9 a.m. – Gov. Haley spoke at the Office of Small and Minority Business Assistance’s Trade Fair, Columbia Conference Center, 169 Laurelhurst Avenue, Columbia.
- 10 a.m. – Gov. Haley arrived at the Office of the Governor for office hours, State House, Columbia.
- 10:30 a.m. – Television news interview with WCIV ABC News 4 Charleston, Dean Stephens.
- 10:50 a.m. – Television news interview with WYFF News 4 Greenville, Myra Ruiz.
- 11:25 a.m. – Television news interview with WPDE Channel 15, Tim McGinnis.
- 11:45 a.m. – Interview with WLTX 19, Jennifer Bellamy.
- 1 p.m. – Magazine interview.
- 2 p.m. – Gov. Haley visited Marion County for agency meetings, Marion.
- 2:30 p.m. – Television news interview.
- 4:05 p.m. – Newspaper interview.
Beyond the question of why a sitting governor would release a schedule detailing the previous week’s events, it’s curious to note that on the day in question just two non-interviews are listed:
A speech at the Office of Small and Minority Business Assistance’s Trade Fair, and a visit to Marion County for agency meetings.
There was plenty of time for the media, however, with five television interviews, one newspaper interview and one magazine interview during the day.
It’s also interesting that the first four television interviews were scheduled back to back. Each, it appears, was from 20 to 45 minutes in length and with local stations, which the press office made sure to identify by including their call letters.
However, the three later interviews were simply listed as “magazine interview,” “television news interview” and “newspaper interview.”
Judging from the schedule, the magazine was allotted an hour and the television interview appears to have been given fully 95 minutes. It’s unclear how long the newspaper interview lasted because it was the final event listed on the schedule, and no end time was included.
The governor’s press office didn’t return a call seeking information on the identity of the latter three media outlets.
But given the fact that the interviews were longer than those with the local stations and Haley’s staff chose not to reveal any identifying features in their email, one suspects they were national in nature.
Perhaps not coincidently, Haley’s book was released Tuesday, one week after the above interviews took place.