(Excerpted from "Cleaning the Pool: The White House Press Corps politely grabs its ankles", from www.nypress.com :
The Bush press conference to me was like a mini-Alamo for American journalism, a final announcement that the media no longer performs anything akin to a real function. Particularly revolting was the spectacle of the cream of the national press corps submitting politely to the indignity of obviously pre-screened questions, with Bush not even bothering to conceal that the affair was scripted.
Abandoning the time-honored pretense of spontaneity, Bush chose the order of questioners not by scanning the room and picking out raised hands, but by looking down and reading from a list. Reporters nonetheless raised their hands in between questions-- though hoping to suddenly catch the president's attention.
In other words, not only were reporters going out of their way to make sure their softballs were preapproved, but they even went so far as to pretend on Bush's behalf, raising their hands and jockeying in their seats in order to better give the appearance of a spontaneous news conference.
Even Bush couldn't ignore the absurdity of it all. In a remarkable exchange that somehow managed to avoid being commented upon in news accounts the next day, Bush chided CNN political correspondent John King when the latter overacted his part, too enthusiastically waving his hand when it apparently was, according to the script, his turn anyway.
KING: "Mr. President."
BUSH: "We'll be there in a minute. King, John King. This is a scripted..."
A ripple of nervous laughter shot through the East Room. Moments later, the camera angle of the conference shifted to a side shot, revealing a ring of potted plants around the presidential podium.
It would be hard to conjure an image that more perfectly describes American political journalism today: George Bush, surrounded by a row of potted plants, in turn surrounded by the White House press corps.
