White House Will Launch Its Own ‘News Service’

The White House, guided by President Reagan’s repeated complaints that his views often are distorted by the reporters who cover him, is launching its own “news service” to distribute presidential speeches and announcements.

Among the first clients of the fledgling service is Citizens for America, a conservative organization headed by Lew Lehrman, who was an unsuccessful New York gubernatorial candidate in 1982.

But the White House said it hopes to establish a market for the service among radio stations and small newspapers around the country that do not have White House correspondents of their own.

Sue Mathis, acting director of the White House office of media relations, said persons who contact her office for more information after reading a news story about some event often remark upon hearing the official version that it “wasn’t at all like the news report” they had heard.

Reagan has complained to reporters that they misinterpret his words and distort his views.

‘Unfiltered Views’

One White House official, who spoke only on condition that he not be identified by name, said Reagan’s aides believe they can get the President’s views across more effectively if those views are “unfiltered” by the independent media.

But Jerry Friedheim, a one-time Department of Defense spokesman who now directs the American Newspaper Publishers Assn., said similar attempts by government in the past generally have failed because persons find that they cannot wade through the mountains of information the government provides.

The White House News Service will offer subscribers the official, unedited version of what the President and his office have to say.

Although Mathis said it is “still in its infancy,” the electronic service will provide verbatim news releases from the White House press office, the First Lady’s office, the vice president’s office and the Office of Management and Budget.

That includes the texts of presidential speeches, personnel announcements, official statements on issues and other news releases now disseminated primarily by distribution of paper copies to the White House press corps.

To distribute the service, the White House has contracted with ITT Dialcom, an electronic mail network that charges subscribers who use their own computers to gain access to the network via telephone lines.

It was ITT Dialcom that last week announced the availability of the system, although the White House has been loading information into the computers for several months on an experimental basis.

Paul Warren, a spokesman for the corporation, said the service now is used primarily by big corporations and trade associations.

But anyone with a personal computer and a modem to tie in to a telephone line may have access to the service, Warren said.