Legacy Media Continue to Circle the Wagons

A story in Politico reports that White House officials asked the organization of journalists that cover the President to condemn an individual reporter in the group for an article that administration officials did not like, and that the organization refused. So why is the group voting this week on whether to exclude certain media entities from its "regular" membership, relegating them to associate member status?

New SCOTUS Press Pass Policy: More of the Same

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued its first formal guidelines for issuance of press passes, after its unwritten policies were questioned because of its refusal to issue a credential to SCOTUSBlog. But the new rules are not likely not help the website.

Credential Decision Circles the Wagons

Back when I was a lawyer in Washington, D.C. -- for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press -- I received an invitation to "cover" President Clinton's announcement of his nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the U.S. Supreme Court. When I arrived at the White House gate, I had to wait a bit while the Secret Service checked my ID. As I waited, members of the regular White House press corps arrived, and tried to flash their access passes and get through the checkpoint. When they were delayed because of the line of non-regulars like me, they got upset and belligerent.  They yelled, and banged on the glass windows of the booth. Eventually they -- and I -- got in for the press conference.

I'm reminded of this incident because of the recent decision by the Standing Committee of Correspondents of the Senate Press Gallery denying Senate press credentials to SCOTUSblog.com. Both incidents reveal an "insider," "us-versus-them" attitude of the established press towards other sources of news: an attitude that is increasingly anachronistic in the modern media age.