Robert Gibbs, press secretary for President-elect Barack Obama, will take the podium from Dana Perino, press secretary for President Bush. “He doesn’t need a lot of advice from me,'' Perino said of Gibbs. "It’s really good to get new energy and new blood in here. They’ve shown that they’re a good professional organization… He won't miss a beat when he gets up here.'' (Photo by Mannie Garcia/Bloomberg News)
by Mark Silva
We didn't hear a lot about "liberal media bias'' in the press room of the White House today - except in the question of a CBS News reporter asking the departing Press Secretary Dana Perino in her final appearance if the Bush administration feels it has been a victim of that bias.
"I don't think that I would always be asked about my feelings about liberal bias in the medi,a if there weren't liberal bias in the media,'' Perino said, facing a briefing room packed with reporters and photographers, standing room only. "Everybody that's in this room... and the reporters who show up every morning and are here late at night.... Strive hard to be fair.
"I give you a 9 on fairness,'' Perino told the White House press.
Outside the press room, she suggested, there's a different story: News media who tell her that they are shrinking their pages and staffs while boosting opinion pages and commentary. The cutbacks in Washington news bureaus, she suggests, are dangerous.
"I do think that outside the White House briefing room... so many people want to add more commentary to their news pages, how is that possible?'' she asked. "There is no doubt that your industry is gong through a change and a transition...
"I really do think, for the sake of democracy, we have to have more of you,'' Perino told the crowd, and she was speaking of news reporters -- not commentators. "It takes time, it takes money, and it takes the investment.''
Perino, taking her 145th and final stand, left with an appreciative slide show of reporters caught working crossword puzzles -- Okay, one reporter -- Bush playing news crewman with a video camera and more. She left with a nod to the departed Tony Snow, who passed away last year after a battle with cancer, and she left without comment about Scott McClellan, their predecessor who has turned a critical eye on Bush.
"I don't think journalism is dead,'' Perino said, "but I think we have to work hard to make sure it survives.''
Comments
Never mind the curtain, pull a sheet over the Bush presidency. Good riddance.
Posted by: Doug Zook | January 16, 2009 11:46 AM
I just saw a blurb from that press conference...she said how everyone kept cool during the plane crash yesterday...because it was cold outside or something like that...what is with her?
Posted by: lochnessmonster | January 16, 2009 11:55 AM
I'd just like to thank John D, Bruce, heartburn, Terry and Paulo for the great job they've done during the Bush Administration providing such great examples of what completely unbiased, levelheaded journalism can be. With out their treless work, I'd have never understood the utter perfection of the Bush Administration, notr the fact that everuy single problem in the world is tied to Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Without their excellent investigative journalism, I'd never know that the majority of my fellow citzens are actually unpartriotic, marxist, terrorist sympathisers. They have done as much as Dana Perino to show us all how evil that anyone who disagrees with the Bush Adminstration truly are.
Posted by: Lou | January 16, 2009 1:00 PM
I'd just like to thank "Lou" for a perfect demonstration of how illiterate Leftists are, with such gems as "everuy" (every), "treless" (tireless?), "notr" (nor), and "With out" (Without).
"Lou", when you tell lies about people like you did above, could you at least spell your lies correctly?
Posted by: Bruce | January 16, 2009 2:23 PM
Sorry Bruce, once again I am in your debt. You are a great editor and journalist of the highest caliber.
But please enlighten me, what lies did I tell?
Posted by: Lou | January 16, 2009 3:06 PM
Good Bruce; so when are you going to help your righty friend Inky with his spelling?
Posted by: mort | January 16, 2009 4:33 PM
Bruce is too busy to edit tonight. The History channel is running a special entitled: "Sex in the Civil War", followed by "More Sex in the Civil War".
I doubt Bruce has his hands on his red pen this evening.
Posted by: Bubba ✔ | January 16, 2009 11:26 PM
Bruce is too busy to edit tonight. The History channel is running a special entitled: "Sex in the Civil War", followed by "More Sex in the Civil War".
I doubt Bruce has his hands on his red pen this evening.
Posted by: Bubba ✔ | January 16, 2009 11:28 PM
"I don't think I would always be asked about my feelings about liberal bias in the media if there weren't liberal bias in the media."
This is the same fractured logic as is found in the yet to be answered question, "How long has it been since you stopped beating your wife?"
If the CBS news reporter in question perceives a liberal bias in the press AND Dana Perino agrees, then the burden is put on the liberal press to prove otherwise even if the assumption is flawed. One would hope that, after over a decade of fractured news, we may hope to have news that informs and that does not bias. Let the facts ruffle my feathers not Dana Perino's accusations or the biases of conservative "reporters" who have served as handmaidens to Bush administration's name calling.
Posted by: Julian Lev | January 18, 2009 12:49 AM