LOS ANGELES _ It was the first day of April and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was on live television once again, standing before a single camera in a nearly empty City Hall.
Over the previous 2{ weeks, the 49-year-old mayor had cheered viewers on for staying home, scolded them for crowding beaches and trails, and admonished them to stop hoarding food and other supplies.
On this particular evening, he was trying to accomplish a more complicated task: Get Angelenos comfortable with the idea of wearing cloth face masks.
"We're gonna have to get used to, you know, seeing each other like this," said the mayor, fumbling to get the mask to go where it was supposed to.
Then, mask fully on, he declared: "This will be the look!"
At least five nights a week, Garcetti has appealed directly to Angelenos on live television _ or Facebook, for those with smaller screens _ to get them to comply with public health orders and keep up with the region's rapidly changing response to the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In his briefings, he has struck a tone that is one part stern dad, one part life coach, with a hint of Marianne Williamson, the self-help guru. He has told viewers he believes in them. He has counseled them to reconnect with old friends. At one point last month, he advised them to call their mothers.
The nightly briefings are part of a nationwide phenomenon of elected officials who, because of their need to get information out quickly, are connecting with their constituents in new and more immediate ways.
In some sections of the country, the televised coronavirus sessions have made viewers see their politicians in a new light. In others, they have served as therapeutic happy hours for an anxious public.
In the Midwest, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's afternoon TV briefings have come to be known as "Wine with DeWine." In Kentucky, updates from Gov. Andy Beshear have been coined "Beers with Beshear." In New York, locked in a grim fight against the virus, viewers have voiced new appreciation for the blunt stylings of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
On the West Coast, Garcetti has been communicating in ways that "come from a place of love," said Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson, an observer of local and national politics. Those messages are in keeping with the mayor's public persona, she said.
"He's tried to come from a place of kindness. He's trying to build consensus," she said.
