Deaver Helps With the Gingrich Image

Michael K. Deaver, the man who helped shape Ronald Reagan’s image, was back Friday doing what he does best--readying the television production that would be House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s speech to the nation.

Deaver has kept a low profile since 1988, when he was convicted of perjury for lying to Congress about his lobbying activities. He was fined $100,000 and placed on three years’ probation.

But on Friday the man who planned patriotic backdrops and flattering camera angles for Reagan’s campaigns and presidency spent part of the day sitting by two small TV monitors in Gingrich’s office, working on the details of the presentation.

One TV carried an image of a head and shoulders; the other a pair of hands on a man’s knee. The images came from two cameras a few feet away, trained on a stand-in sitting on the edge of Gingrich’s desk.

“Can we move the camera just a little to bring in a column?” asked Deaver, referring to the large concrete columns outside the window that were lit for the speech.