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D.C.'s Gridiron Club on the griddle, again
Politico
Dylan Byers
3/8/2013
Excerpt:
In what has become an annual event, Washington, D.C.'s Gridiron Club -- a 65-member group featuring many of the Beltway's most distinguished journalists -- is coming under fire for its policy of forbidding cameras at its annual white-tie dinner, which takes place on Saturday night.
Non-Gridiron press corps members are particularly piqued this year because President Obama has agreed to attend the dinner, something he did not do in 2009, 2010 or 2012. Some of those journalists find it particularly ironic that after all the press corps' recent complaints about access and transparency, fellow journalists are making the decision to keep the president's remarks in camera -- which is to say, off camera.
"We are obviously disappointed particularly considering the President is attending this year. We continue to believe the dinner should be open to media coverage," Howard Mortman, the communications director at C-SPAN, told POLITICO.
But Chuck Lewis, the senior editor of Hearst News and current president of the Gridiron Club, says this isn't about denying access -- it's simply that the dinner is an intimate affair not suited for cameras.
"We don’t allow cameras because we feel their presence would disrupt the ambience of the evening," Lewis told POLITICO. "Everything is on the record during the evening. We have issued a press release with some of my (lame) jokes and with the texts of all the songs."
For the first time in history, the Club is permitting the presence of a pool reporter, who will furnish the rest of the press corps with an account of the night's festivities, which include a speech from the president, Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal and Democratic Sen. Amy Jean Klobuchar.
The Club sees this as an historic allowance.
"History is being made: On Saturday night, for the first time, the print member of the White House press pool will be in the hall to provide coverage of the president," Lewis said. "The party speakers, Sen. Klobuchar and Gov. Jindal, are under no limitation about releasing their texts."
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View the complete article at:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/...in-158827.html
Politico
Dylan Byers
3/8/2013
Excerpt:
In what has become an annual event, Washington, D.C.'s Gridiron Club -- a 65-member group featuring many of the Beltway's most distinguished journalists -- is coming under fire for its policy of forbidding cameras at its annual white-tie dinner, which takes place on Saturday night.
Non-Gridiron press corps members are particularly piqued this year because President Obama has agreed to attend the dinner, something he did not do in 2009, 2010 or 2012. Some of those journalists find it particularly ironic that after all the press corps' recent complaints about access and transparency, fellow journalists are making the decision to keep the president's remarks in camera -- which is to say, off camera.
"We are obviously disappointed particularly considering the President is attending this year. We continue to believe the dinner should be open to media coverage," Howard Mortman, the communications director at C-SPAN, told POLITICO.
But Chuck Lewis, the senior editor of Hearst News and current president of the Gridiron Club, says this isn't about denying access -- it's simply that the dinner is an intimate affair not suited for cameras.
"We don’t allow cameras because we feel their presence would disrupt the ambience of the evening," Lewis told POLITICO. "Everything is on the record during the evening. We have issued a press release with some of my (lame) jokes and with the texts of all the songs."
For the first time in history, the Club is permitting the presence of a pool reporter, who will furnish the rest of the press corps with an account of the night's festivities, which include a speech from the president, Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal and Democratic Sen. Amy Jean Klobuchar.
The Club sees this as an historic allowance.
"History is being made: On Saturday night, for the first time, the print member of the White House press pool will be in the hall to provide coverage of the president," Lewis said. "The party speakers, Sen. Klobuchar and Gov. Jindal, are under no limitation about releasing their texts."
...............................................
View the complete article at:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/...in-158827.html