Fitzwater Rejects TV Briefings, Says Camera Distorts

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Tuesday that he is afraid to put his daily news briefings on television because the television camera “judges” and “distorts information.”

Fitzwater made the comments in responding to requests by television reporters that their cameras be permitted during a briefing being held at the White House on Tuesday by a State Department official.

He rejected the request and then was asked why he does not admit television cameras to his own briefings.

“Because television judges--the television camera judges quite apart from information,” he said.

When he was asked what he found frightening about the power of television, Fitzwater said:

“One, because so few people understand it. And two, because it distorts information and it portrays information that is different than real substance.”

“What do you mean, people don’t understand it?” he was asked. “What don’t they understand about it?”

“About how it’s used, about . . . what its power is, about the power of pictures and what they do; those kinds of things,” he replied.

“I’m trying to tell you why I’m afraid of televised interviews.

” . . . It is too high a risk for me. You can’t talk on camera; you can’t discuss issues; you end up with a very stilted kind of conversation, and also I don’t think press spokesmen ought to become television personalities.”