Accessibility Issues
My pal Brad (long-time Springsteen fan), emailed me this article from American Journalism Review, which commends the Knight-Ridder news service for being on task during the lead up to the Iraq war (i.e., just doing their jobs asking the tough questions that seems to have eluded many other news organizations--a fact that the NYTimes owned up to this spring). Here are some key grafs:

"As the pressure built on the administration and their case got shakier and shakier, there was obviously a lot greater stress, and there was some shouting that was done at us over the telephone," Hoyt says. Some of those calls came from well-known names in high places, Bureau Chief John Walcott adds, declining to drop any names.

Around that time, the White House turned up the pressure, Strobel says, and "tried to freeze us out of briefings."

Landay adds: "I think this administration may have a fairly punitive policy when it comes to journalists who get in their face. And if you talk to some White House reporters, there is a fear of losing access." He says that fear may have played into the relatively uncritical approach of news organizations like the Times.

The Bush administration likes to live in a vacuum, where nary a dissenting word is heard. But the limiting of access to the President doesn't just stop in Washington--it's taking place everywhere the President travels on his campaign tour.

President Bush has been campaigning with more frequency and more intensity than most incumbent presidents, and his events are nearly always perfect productions. One reason is that the campaign team makes sure those in attendance are friendly in advance -- and in writing.

That's a summary of an NPR All Things Considered report from this evening (listen to it in Real Audio).