Beat the Press

Does the White House blacklist critical journalists? Nicholas Confessore examines the way journalists who flatter the Bush administration get treated compared to others. Bob Woodward got "the royal treatment: spoon-fed chronology, high-level interviews, and juicy anecdotes galore" as he worked on a breathless account of the days after September 11 in which "the president and his staff are always resolute, action is always decisive, and pressure is always met by grace." By contrast, Dana Milbank, who has uncovered a number of stories embarrassing to the administration, gets "angry calls to the boss, lack of cooperation on routine requests (such as travel schedules), and other petty -- and not so petty -- reprisals."