Kurtz Paddles to Center of Media Spotlight
Monday, November 21st, 2005
In her article on the issues raised by Howie Kurtz’s CNN gig allowing him to comment on his other gig at the Washington Post, where he also comments on CNN, Kit Seelye interviews Kurtz critics Mickey Kaus and Jack Shafer. Shafer reaches for a metaphor: “This is the duck-billed platypus of journalism, an egg-laying mammal with fur - it’s just something very bizarre.” An egg-laying mammal with fur and perhaps a meth problem, as these critics of Kurtz writing about his employer both work at Slate, which is owned by the Washington Post. As a Corner reader has pointed out, this is something Seelye doesn’t mention. MORE »
In this White House pool report: too much information.
In this White House pool report, the President conquers his demons, and gets another scooter out of the White House:
PRWeek recently surveyed some reporters and public affairs specialists in an attempt to help White House spokesman Scott McClellan out of his credibility hole. One excellent piece of advice: “[When reporters] come up to him after a press briefing, pat him on the back, and say, ‘Hey Scott,’ they do that because they still need him. He should not mistake that for respect.” 
Usually, the White House just puts words into Scott McClellan’s mouth. Last week, the press office tried to wrench them into the transcripts of White House briefings provided by CQ and the Federal News Service. At issue: McClellan’s uncharacteristically candid affirmation of a statement by NBC’s David Gregory, set forth by CQ and FNS as: 
Covering the White House sounds like an important and exciting career, but in many ways, it’s like any other job: There’s a lot of busy work, your bosses make unreasonable demands, and when things get slow, you gossip about who in the office you’d have sex with. Thus we were not surprised to hear that a recent journalist confab, talk turned to WHSILF (”White House Staffers I’d Like to Fuck”). The verdict: Pickings are slim, and surely there are some kinks. Bush, opined one, would be fine, but “he would probably slap your butt with a towel like you were in the locker room.” And Scott McLellan? “He would just cry afterwards.”
From high above the Southern Hemisphere, an operative on Air Force One espied the Time scribe’s fledgling literary effort:
E&P reports that Jeff Gannon’s Washington Blade column isn’t so popular. There’s a lot dancing around whether or not Gannon is really gay — the Blade editor apparently sees him as some kind of ambassador from the mental red states — but one thing is clear: “The public reaction to my columns has been predictably negative and shrill.” Well, with your clothes on, sure. There’s only one column of yours that most gay boys are interested in, Jeff. And it doesn’t have your email at the end. 