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Blogger Joins Rarified Ranks Of White House Correspondents
by Becki Snow
Originally posted to BNN 3/7/2005
As a result of a bold move by the White House, Fishbowl DC Blogger Garrett Graff has joined the White House Press Pool. As son of Associated Press Reporter Chris Graff, Garrett Graff has a knowledge of the overall mechanics of the media machine, and his ambitious blog has the glossy appeal that helped it to become the first to be admitted to the exclusive club of White House reporters.
In his first report, Graff relays the process of inclusion into the Press Pool:
After a week of attempts, getting into the White House this morning was a piece of cake. We arrived at the northwest gate today promptly at 9:30 as instructed by the Press Office on Friday. The Secret Service officer at the gate was a little puzzled when we explained we didn't have any press credentials, but a scan of the driver's license confirmed we were on the list for the day. After we passed through the gate, he presented us with the Holy Grail: A brown and white pass reading "Press." And we were in.
READ MORE AT FISHBOWL DC
Graff's affable style and casual notation of events make his blog a readable romp, in keeping with it's "digital gossip sheet" designation. He makes no secret of his newbie status in the press gaggle, and that in turn endears him to those of us who are press hounds (or those of us who hound the press, whichever it may be). His account of the day's event was entertaining and engrossing, well worth the read.
And so it is that the Blogosphere enters the ranks of "real" reporting; not with a bang, but a post. It is well worth noting that this development is occurring just as the first rumblings of McCain-Feingold mayhem are darkening the horizon for bloggers of all persuasions. It is possibly coincidence, but many of us are inclined to think that this is more likely a deliberate act on the part of the Bush Administration to expand the influence and legitimacy of blogs into the realm of the established Old Media, thereby ensuring protection under the First Amendment.
The doors are opened, and even a Blogger may now join the privileged few in the White House Press Room. In this one small step, the Blogosphere and the New Media are insured a fighting chance of winning against those in the Old Media - and the Elitist Establishment - who would deprive ordinary individuals of their right to Free Speech.
Becki Snow blogs at The Question Fairy.
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