When was the last time you saw a front page story in the Washington Post (or any other top tier media outlet) in which press secretaries and spokespeople complained about the tactics, attitude and/or work habits of the reporters they deal with every day?
Just about as often as Newt Gingrich admits mistakes, I would imagine – as in, never.
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| Another Day At The Office For Jay Carney |
No, you won’t often see national stories casting reporters in a negative light. But at least on an annual basis, you will see stories like the December 22 Post piece about White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and his staff, headlined, “Journalists complain the White House press office has become overly combative.”
It was a classic inside-baseball, warning shot across Carney’s bow – a lump of coal as he headed into what will probably be his last holiday break before the 2012 campaign makes life a round-the-clock nightmare. Given that Carney and his staff manage the flow of information to and from thousands of reporters around the world each day, it’s amusing when the complaints of “some reporters” trigger 1,400 words that can be summed up as: A few of us don’t like the tone by which we are being held accountable for the stories we are producing.
