White House Press Meeting Yields No Credentialing Changes, Yet

[Roland99]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000800651

Don't expect major changes to the White House press-credentialing process any time soon.

Following a meeting today between the leadership of the White House Correspondents' Association and President Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan, neither side seemed to be in a hurry to alter the current system, which has drawn criticism amid the recent "Jeff Gannon" scandal.

After a 30-minute sit-down with McClellan, WHCA President Ron Hutcheson said he believed the current system was fine and hesitated to have the correspondents' association play a bigger role in distributing press passes. "I'm not sure we need to do anything," Hutcheson told E&P. "I'm not comfortable in passing judgment on who is a journalist and who isn't. My overriding view is that if I am going to make a mistake, it is going to be on letting people in rather than keeping people out."

But Hutcheson said the full nine-person WHCA board will consider the matter on Feb. 28, and, if the board members want to seek changes to the process or vote to play a greater role in it, he will not stop them. "The board may feel differently than me," he added. "We will go back and tell them what are the criteria."



Sure...the current system is just fine and dandy! I'd like to see me go there and get a day pass that easily (considering I have zero journalistic experience). I'd level some questions Bush's way for sure!

[Eric J in MN]

1. They don't let anyone who calls himself a journalist ask questions.

Even among the people who get in, there are reporters who have never gotten to ask a question in years of attendance at White House press conferences.

James Guckert ("Jeff Gannon") repeatedly got to ask questions.

[Roland99]

2. Things I'd like to see:

1) McClellan suddenly resigns.
2) Stories of McClellan having "intimate" knowledge of Guckert surface.
3) Guckert is questioned again by Fitzgerald.
4) Indictments are handed out to Guckert and to Sr. White House members.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Let's Flood The Press Room

I guess anyone with a political website qualifies as "journalist" (no offense to the real journalists out there...the rare and brave few who can only use the internet to get the truth out) should be able to get credentials and sit in on Scotty's daily gaggles and briefings.

I wonder how much Whitewash Hutcheson had to purchase...and how he's able to keep all that shit in without it blowing out his ears. This lacky was interviewed last week...I think it was CNNservative...before the "Gannon" websites came out and "Talon News" was completely exposed and said "There's nothing here to see...".

I can't believe this guy claims to be a "journalist"...there's a story right under his nose and not only ignores it, he wants it to go away. Shame must be brought on these people, if nothing else.

[Roland99]

4. Well, the righties are now ragging on Russell Mokhiber

Saying he's posing as a journalist.


Only difference is, this guy has actually written something instead of cutting-n-pasting from GOP releases. Oh, and he was planted by the White House (Mokhiber was denied daily passes for four months and never got a hard pass.)

[KharmaTrain]

5. Let's Go One Step More...

Let's compare Mokhiber and his website/publication and how it's funded and operated compared to that of "Gannon's" and "Talon News". My bets are Mokhiber had to submit to a security check of every cavity and a trace on his lineage going back as far as DNA can go. "Gannon" didn't get such a going over.

Then...let's look at who the patrons of what Mr. Mokhiber does and "Gannon"...who pays the bills to put him in that press room and who consumes what he writes.

This part scares the shit out of corporate media. Accountability...always good for someone other than them...the mantra of the new millenium.

[Fridays Child]

6. Even more, Mokhiber has been plying his trade for many years...

...way before B*sh II hit the White House, in fact. And he does more than write the "Scotty and Me" column. He writes a legal weekly paper called "The Corporate Crime Reporter" and he's a published book author. Imagine dragging him into this Gannon fiasco. There's desperation, for you.