C-Span: Blogger Gains WH Daily Press Pass

As some of you know, Garrett Graff from http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/ has been documenting his (stonewalled) attempts to acquire a daily press pass.  C-Span just announced that the daily pass has been granted, making Graff the first blogger to gain access as a blogger to the WH press briefings.

Note: Updates & links below the fold.

Update [2005-3-7 11:24:54 by Titian]: Thanks jakal: From Fishbowl NY:

"We got an email from Knight Ridder's Ron Hutcheson, president of the White House Correspondents Association, who said that, without prompting, he'd raised the issue with the White House Press Office. USA Today's media reporter Mark Memmott was interested in writing a story about the saga and he started making calls. Late yesterday, he spoke to a spokesperson who said that that the Press Office had gone ahead and cleared us in. "While we still haven't heard back from Media Affairs, we did get an email from someone who handles credentials for the Press Office last evening (our first communication back from the White House all week) that seemed to imply we'd be able to attend a briefing this week as long as we provided vitals."

Update [2005-3-7 11:24:54 by Titian]:: From Fishbowl Breaking News:

FishbowlDC has finally scored one of those White House press gaggle day passes that any legitimate news organization can easily get, according to Scott McClellan. And it only took five days and some 20-odd unreturned phone calls.

•  Since a blogger has a WH press-pass the FEC

  now should have to recognize blogs as part of the press.  Bloggers as a whole should be obtaining press passes at every opportunity to build evidnec that can be used to prevent the courts and the FEC from screwing blogs (as a whole) over in cases such as the Apple subpoena matters and in FEC regulation.

  by LionelEHutz on Mon Mar 07, 2005 at 05:55:12 AM PDT

  •  definitely recommended

    both the diary & the um, polite note to the FEC that if the WH can recognize we're part of the press, then their sorry ass can too!

    however, we all know this is to diffuse the Gannon-gate issue.

    we should help this guy get a chance to ask a question.

    Bush, What Price Did You Pay?

    by krazypuppy on Mon Mar 07, 2005 at 06:50:44 AM PDT

•  I see it took intervention

  From a couple of traditional press  folks to wake the WHPO up.

  They should have anticipated  that the response to "easy to get a day pass" for Jimmy Jeff was going to be a blogger attempting to get one.

  Or maybe they did, and just figured it wouldn't be a big enough deal to matter to anyone who mattered to them.

  by boadicea on Mon Mar 07, 2005 at 06:06:34 AM PDT

  •  Fear of Exposure

    An update on the quest of Media Bistro gossip site Fishbowl DC to pull a Gannon and get a White House day pass:
    "We got an emailfrom Knight Ridder's Ron Hutcheson, president of the White House Correspondents Association, who said that, without prompting, he'd raised the issue with the White House Press Office. USA Today's media reporter Mark Memmott was interested in writing a story about the saga and he started making calls. Late yesterday, he spoke to a spokesperson who said that that the Press Office had gone ahead and cleared us in.
    "While we still haven't heard back from Media Affairs, we did get an email from someone who handles credentials for the Press Office last evening (our first communication back from the White House all week) that seemed to imply we'd be able to attend a briefing this week as long as we provided vitals."
    Lesson: It helps for small media guys to get big media guys involved.

    by jakal on Mon Mar 07, 2005 at 07:08:10 AM PDT

    •  Thanks for Verification. I Kept Checking for...

      ...something to verify the C-Span announcement but there was nothing on Fishbowl or elsewhere.  I stepped out for a shower and the announcement goes up.  Thanks for the catch.

      by Titian on Mon Mar 07, 2005 at 07:50:03 AM PDT

  •  Another thing it took.

    Was a written request, on company letterhead, for the day pass. Which is something that accompanies most such requests, but Graff neglected to submit until day four of his five day saga.

    Granted, the White House media affairs office made it much more difficult than it should have been, in that they never told him what to submit or how to do it, but once his application was complete, it took all of a day to get his pass.

    Still, there's no denying that Graff's story seems to indicate that getting a pass is much easier if you have the ability to get an insider on the phone. That's good for the angle on the Guckert story that holds that he had inside help.

    Do we have any knowledge of how long it took Guckert and/or Eberle to get their first pass for GOPUSA? What do we have that we can compare Graff's experience to? All the focus to date has been on how quickly Guckert got in after Talon was established, but since he was already inside and able to give the media affairs office a heads up on the name change, that's not going to be a very telling measure. But I don't believe anyone has reported anything about how long it took GOPUSA to get its first pass.

    by Kagro X on Mon Mar 07, 2005 at 08:45:55 AM PDT

    •  You're right

      But I'm not holding my breath for THAT info to be forthcoming.

      However, since Little Scottie as much as intimated that anybody with a website column could blow into DC and get a day pass I think it's still pretty telling that the Fishbowl DC correspondent couldn't even get someone from the Media Office to tell him what the requirements WERE.

      Hell, his boss couldn't get a fax number for what, a day and a half.

      I'm glad to hear it's not all that easy, mind, but it does add to the pile of lies the Bushies are feeding the spin machine.
      

      by boadicea on Mon Mar 07, 2005 at 09:05:45 AM PDT