BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

The Power and the Story The Obamas may have the smartest, most finely calibrated press operation in White House history, parceling out scoops (The New York Times), partisan talking points (the Huffington Post), and First Family tidbits (the celebrity mags) to a desperate media. Just don’t ask them to admit it. By Michael Wolff Bill Burton is the baby-faced political op with a little too much junk food under his belt—and, at 31, with one of the political world’s longest résumés in media relations—who runs the pressroom at the White House. He’s got possibly the littlest office in the West Wing, but it’s where you want your West Wing office to be, guarding somebody more important than you. Burton is guarding his boss, the president’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs—who guards the president—from me. The Obama presidency is striving to be the most open and available in modern history, hence—and I am here on the 98th day—its first 100 days of remarkable staging, including dogs, wife, children,...

cross posted from Joe.My.God.: NYPD Sued Over Blogger Press Credentials Room Eight, the NYC politics site founded by Politico's Ben Smith, reported this weekend on a federal lawsuit filed against the NYPD regarding their refusal to grant press credentials to online journalists. “The system of granting press credentials in New York City has run amok and needs to be changed immediately,” said Norman Siegel, a prominent civil rights attorney who is leading the lawsuit. “We cannot allow the City of New York, the police department, to trample on the fundamental rights of journalists.” The lawsuit is challenging the NYPD’s “unconstitutionally vague” criteria for defining who is qualified to carry city-issued press credentials. According to the NYPD’s Office of Deputy Commissioner for Public Information, an applicant must submit three articles that have been published in print media within the last six months and a cover letter from a news director or editor. For individuals publishi...

BLOGGERS: WELCOME TO "MEDIA" & YOUR ANONYMITY A couple stories worth sharing in readers to the status of bloggers and their anonymity came up in the news - and I want to share them with my readers and the blogosphere. Political Bloggers: Welcome to the “Media” Political Bloggers can now “breathe a sigh of relief” according to Eric Sinrod on CNET. A ruling just came down from the Federal Election Commission that classifies bloggers as media and volunteers - doesn’t matter if you’re a big operation or working solo. From the article: Political bloggers can breathe a sigh of relief, as the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has just resolved two complaints by determining that Internet blogging activities are not within FEC regulation because such activities fall within media and volunteer exemptions to the Federal Election Campaign Act. The first matter resolved was in regards to DailyKos.com: The site has charged a fee to place advertising on its Web site. It also has...

All The President's Liars Where the Hell are The Washington Post and New York Times on McClellangate?! by Steve Young Do the investigative reporters at the Washington Post and New York Times fall under the Writers Guild Contract? Are Bernstein and Woodward too busy in makeup? Can the WGA and Producers get together and give satirical news an exemption? While the Writers Strike keeps The Daily Show from cleverly pointing out the obvious, The Washington Post and New York Times ignore the obvious altogether. We've been lied to by this White House. Who says? Scott McClellan, the guy who was paid to lie for the guys who lied in the first place. Of course, if he really wanted to bare his soul he would have let Helen Thomas write the foreword of " What Happened: Was I Lying Then Or Am I Lying Now?" Point is, other than blogs and the Keith Olbermann network - and the Writers Strike continuing to keep Jon Stewart, Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert on the sidelines - we're left...

FUNDAMENTAL BETRAYAL ACCORDING TO THE 'JERK AT THE PODIUM' Is this news to anyone? Really? If it is than either you are in total denial or have been confined to a cave since 2000. I hope Valerie Plame-Wilson will finally get some justice, too. Scott McClellan in Upcoming Book Ties Bush to CIA Leak Case -- Dodd Calls for Probe To no one's surprise in a world where top White House aides with any president eventually write a book about it, former Press Secretary Scott McClellan will be coming out with his volume in April. It's called "What Happened" and its publisher, Public Affairs, at its Web site now carries this brief excerpt -- which set off a media firestorm on Tuesday. It also led to a call for a full probe by a top U.S. senator and condemnation from former CIA agent Valerie Plame. E&P was first mainstream news outlet to report on Monday night that the McClellan excerpt reads: "The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on ...