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How the Real Story Gets Told in PicturesWatchdog ConferenceFor five and a half years, Pete Souza was the official White House photographer during the Reagan Administration.His intimate access to the President provided him with an ability to produce pictures that captured authentic expressionsthrough which real stories can be told. Now, as the Chicago Tribune’s national photographer based in Washington, hestruggles to deliver a photograph that he can truly say captures the authentic expression of the current President.“In a lot of ways I think that I was more a journalist covering Reagan, as an employee of the government, than I wascovering Clinton as a newspaper photographer for the Chicago Tribune,” said Pete Souza. “I felt when I covered ReaganI did it journalistically and presented the right photographs of him. With Clinton, I really don’t know if I did a journalisticjob or not.”“I am going to show you twophotos that were taken 30 minutesapart. This is the Tower Commissionpresenting their report to PresidentReagan, and there are 10 peoplein the Cabinet Room and me. Youtalk about being a fly on the wall.That’s what I was. I swear to God,when I pushed the shutter button itwas like a cannon going off. This isthe moment when John Tower istelling Reagan, ‘Our commission hasconcluded that it was an arms forhostages deal.’ This is a real picture.I’m a government employee.”“The second photo is what thepress got. Now this is the differencebetween having access and not havingaccess. And I will argue that thisfirst one is a photojournalistic picture,even though I was a governmentemployee. And this one isnot.”Nieman Reports / Fall 1999 13