The White House press corps has certainly had its share of nontraditional journalists.
There is Raghubir Goyal of the India Globe, who according to various media accounts, can be counted on to ask questions about India or Pakistan regardless of what happens to be in the news at the moment. There is Les Kinsolving, a Baltimore radio personality who is known for asking off-the-wall questions or, as he puts it on his website, “as one of the few who has the guts to ask probing questions and even providing comic relief.”
And then there is — or was — Helen Thomas. Thomas, 89, was the longtime White House correspondent for United Press International who was a trailblazer for women in journalism. Thomas became a familiar figure as she used her front-row seat in the White House briefing room to ask tough questions of presidents and their press secretaries.
Thomas made the switch from reporter to columnist about 10 years ago, and observers said her questions morphed into increasingly acerbic arguments and assertions. There was no effort, though, to move the dean of the White House press corps out of her coveted front-row seat until she suddenly retired earlier this month following harsh public reaction to her comments that Israel should “get the hell out of Palestine” and that Jews should return to Germany and Poland.
But while Goyal, Kinsolving and Thomas may be unconventional in their approach to covering the White House, they all work or worked for traditional media outlets — newspapers, radio stations and wire services. What about non-traditional media outlets such as websites and blogs? Can they also get White House credentials and the access to lob questions at presidents and White House press secretaries?
The answer is yes, at least for some of the more established and well-known online operations. The Huffington Post has White House press credentials, as does Talking Points Memo. Jon Ward, who used to cover the White House for The Washington Times, now has credentials as a reporter for The Daily Caller, a website started this year by political pundit Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel, a former adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney.
But it doesn’t appear that members of the so-called Fifth Estate bring a dramatically different approach to covering the White House than their counterparts from more traditional media outlets. No Les Kinsolvings or Raghubir Goyals in this bunch.
The primary difference is in the amount of time they devote to White House coverage. While the television networks, major newspapers and wire services have reporters who spend all their time covering the White House, correspondents for Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller and The Huffington Post divide their time between the White House and other stories.
Sam Stein of The Huffington Post, for example, has written extensively about the BP oil spill and Obama’s handling of it. But he has also written in recent weeks about national politics, debates in Congress and Fox News.
Mario Ruiz, senior vice president for media relations for The Huffington Post, said Stein is not a creature of the White House.
“Quite the opposite,” Ruiz said. “He does not spend all day there. I think that sort of informs his coverage.”
Ward, of The Daily Caller, also writes about Congress and the White House. He says The Daily Caller has neither the ability nor the desire to be “the outlet of record” about what goes on in the White House.
“They are not going to read your site unless you have something they can’t find elsewhere,” he says.
Ward cited a recent story that had nothing to do with the Obama White House. It was an interview he did with Ari Fleischer, who was White House press secretary for President George W. Bush. Fleischer said in the interview that he hoped his fellow Republicans do not take control of the U.S. House in this year’s midterm elections. Ward said Fleischer was one of the first prominent Republicans to take such a stance, and predicted that the story line would continue to build over the next several weeks.
Not being a White House regular means some of the new media correspondents don’t get many opportunities to engage Obama and his staff.
There was plenty of buzz online last year when Obama called on Stein during a televised press conference. It was believed to be the first time a president had called on a representative of the Fifth Estate during a press conference.
But Ward, who only attends White House press briefings when he expects hot-button issues to be discussed, says he does not get the same level of access he had when he was with The Washington Times. With the Times, Ward had a third row seat and could count on asking a question during virtually every briefing.
And since he moved over to The Daily Caller? Ward has yet to be called on for a question.
