Friday, May 12, 2006
Snow issues detailed rebuttals to media coverage of the president
“The New York Times continues to ignore America’s economic progress,” blared the headline of an e-mail sent to reporters Wednesday by the White House press office.
Minutes earlier, another e-mail blasted CBS News, which has had an unusually rocky relationship with the White House since 2004, when CBS aired what turned out to be forged documents in a failed effort to question the president’s military service.
“CBS News misleadingly reports that only 8 million seniors have signed up for Medicare prescription drug coverage,” Wednesday’s missive said. “But 37 million seniors have coverage.” On Tuesday, the White House railed against “USA Today’s misleading Medicare story.”...
There's a risk that it becomes an unseamly pissing match, or that a media, unused to being talked back to becomes even more vicious, but I think it's pretty clear at this point, and in today's media world, that the Administration has to do this, and should have been doing it long ago. They've got the right kind of media-savy guy in Tony Snow to give it a try at least.
(via Dean's World)
