Just The Facts
By
Wayne Slater
Wayne Slater is Austin bureau chief at the Dallas Morning News. Slater covered Bush while he was governor of Texas and on the presidential campaign trail.
When administration was ushered into Washington, so was a more restricted relationship with the press. Good tidbits, leaks and general fun presidential facts were hard to come by. In late February, journalists at a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., sponsored by The Hotline and Time magazine had this to say about media access: "It's just awful. You can't get color out of them.... Our two White House correspondents can barely get, 'How many people were in the room? Were there doughnuts?'... The whole idea is don't say anything."
--Time columnist Margaret Carlson "I was the source of the broccoli story. [The media extensively reported that the elder George Bush hated that vegetable.].... Those kinds of details are important to humanize a president.... I think this White House will loosen up over time."
--Sheila Tate, vice chairman of the public affairs firm Powell Tate, and former press secretary for President-elect Bush Sr. This administration "comes from a corporate culture, and a corporate culture is not an open culture."
--Chuck Todd, editor in chief of The Hotline ###
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