NEWS: White House Admits 1st Blogger to Briefing, page 1

posted on Mar, 7 2005 @ 06:08 PM

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In a sign of the times, a blogger has become the first of his genre to cover the daily White House briefing. Garrett M. Graff, 23, blogs "Fishbowl D.C" which deals with the news media in Washington. He made the decision to try to get a pass following a recent controversy over what was a legitimate reporter.

story.news.yahoo.com
WASHINGTON - With an official credential hanging from his neck, a young man stepped into the White House briefing room Monday as perhaps the first blogger to cover the daily press briefings. He found the surroundings to be dilapidated and cramped and concluded that his morning at the White House was "remarkably uneventful."

Garrett M. Graff, 23, writes Fishbowl D.C., a Web log about the news media in Washington. He decided to see if he could get a daily pass for a briefing after a recent controversy raised questions about White House access and who is a legitimate reporter.

Graff said he got his pass after a week of asking. "The briefing room ought to be an inclusive place," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. Historically, he said, the White House has admitted "the traditional media and the nontraditional media, as well as colorful individuals with certain points of view from the left and the right."

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Its an acknowledgment of the new force that are blogs. They played a role in the 2004 Presidential election and all the major parties have recognized thier potential. It remains to be seen how much of an inroad they make into the traditional boundaries of the media. Blogs as interesting and amusing as they may be also represent a dangerous precedent if used as a news source.

wecomeinpeace

posted on Mar, 8 2005 @ 01:56 AM

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One small step for blogger...one giant leap for Internet-kind. This could perhaps herald the placement of the power of media back in the place it used to be, and where it should have remained: in the hands of the common man.

A legion of blogger journalists suddenly becoming a force in journalism would undoubtably be met with sneers of derision from the established media, and lead some to raise the issue of impartiality. But let's face it, if you think the established media is impartial and free from bias...you're living in a dream world.

Perhaps we're witnessing the birth of a new journalistic medium. Let us hope that it, unlike all forms of media before it, remains incorruptable.

James the Lesser

posted on Mar, 8 2005 @ 02:03 AM

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Doubt it, can see Bush&Co planting bloggers on the internet right now. Or paying them like what they did with the other "reporters". Or buying an entire blogging network and firing anyone who doesn't worship Reagan/Nixon/Bush Sr./Bush Jr and turning it into another Fox News.

Countermeasures

posted on Mar, 8 2005 @ 02:32 AM

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and liberals could be planting bloggers as well, the beauty of blogging is that you can use heavy opiniated stuff as news and not have to live up to respectable journalist standards, still I enjoy some very funny blogpages (from both left and rightwingers) , but I think it's not a good thing if bloggers become on any official paylist.

The blogging was at first refreshing exactly because they dared to differ from the from mainstream media that at times seems to "be bought and payed for" as well nowadays and also bloggers delightfully throw the hot potatoes around that are too hot for Political Correct media, now if influential bloggers sell out and start get payed as well, I must ressort to Rense.com to get an alternative opinion, I don't want that

[edit on 8-3-2005 by Countermeasures]

wecomeinpeace

posted on Mar, 8 2005 @ 03:06 AM

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So true. With the very first monarch who threatened to cut off the head of any portrait painter who made them look fat, media bias was born. And so it shall continue to be.