May 09, 2007
No Hobnobbing With The Queen
Should working journalists nosh on caviar and sip champagne with the officials they cover?
Philadelphia Daily News columnist Will Bunch says no. In a post on his Attytood blog, Bunch questions what White House correspondents Richard Wolffe (Newsweek), David Gregory (NBC) and Steven Holland (Reuters) were doing as guests, rather than press, at Monday's Bush-hosted white-tie gala for Queen Elizabeth II.
The Washington press corps' coziness with government officials has made its way into more headlines lately. The New York Times last month decided to stop participating in the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, which Beltway types giddily refer to as "prom." Every TV and cable news network, plus major newspapers and other publishers, participate by hosting parties, sending representatives or both. (Disclosure: Atlantic Media, which owns The Gate, hosts a pre-party, and this reporter was among the attendees this year.)
But the disconnect of gussied-up reporters clinking glasses with the president while an unpopular war rages on across the globe makes some media types queasy. At the 2006 dinner, Stephen Colbert made merry with that criticism, which some blamed for the selection of big-in-the-'70s comic Rich Little as this year's entertainment.
The Daily News' Bunch has another issue with such lovefests: "Reporters -- whether they work in Washington, D.C. or a small mountain town in Washington State -- ought to be the voice of the kind of people who don't get invited to white-tie affairs, the handymen and school teachers, not the politicians and billionaires."
Perhaps the best recent example of how chumminess can get both the press and government officials in trouble is the Valerie Plame affair, which culminated in a criminal trial for Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and in a trial by media of, well, the media. ImusGate is also another example of late.
Newsweek's Wolffe reported that "the dover sole was excellent," but that the chanterelles accompanying another dish "were perfectly done." The Gate doesn't know if the Washington Post's Dana Milbank was there to dine or take notes, though he seemed to poke fun at another journalist's excitement about the evening after appearing on MSNBC in his white-tie finest.
(Photo courtesy of Eat The Press.)
Posted at 2:55 PM
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