All Blog Posts from Public Eye

Just in case you haven’t been checking us out on a regular basis over the past couple weeks, PE has covered some pretty interesting and controversial subjects. We've taken a look at how the press covers the White House and whether those daily gaggles and briefings have much value. We looked at how top skier Bode Miller took a controversy and turned it into PR gold.



We’ve looked inside CBS after the network acknowledged withholding some details about the FBI’s success at discovering who’s been making those IEDs being used against U.S. soldiers in Iraq – at the FBI’s request. We revisited the network’s morning editorial meeting, the 10:30. And we got a top-level intelligence reading from CBS correspondent David Martin on how the hunt for Osama bin Laden may be going.



And, of course, we’ve immersed ourselves in the Deborah Howell and Washingtonpost.com v. the outraged critics story.



And that’s just some of our more recent work. For those relatively new to PE, we encourage you to check out the Editor’s Picks on the right side of this page. We’ll be updating those real soon, so take a look at some of our past coverage. And, as always, feel free to comment below or drop us a line. We read each and every e-mail.

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When The New York Times reported last month that President Bush authorized NSA surveillance and wiretapping of Americans without first obtaining a warrant the story was an inevitable topic for reporters at that day’s press briefing. As Romenesko noted that day, however, it came as “no surprise” that White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan would not discuss the story:

Q: The New York Times -- they sat on a very important story about possible breach of our Constitution for a full year, and they reached an agreement, I guess, with somebody in the White House. I'm wondering if you could give us a tick tock about how the White House reached --


MR. McCLELLAN: I think I've already said that I'm not going to get into discussing any matters relating to ongoing intelligence activities. And that means not getting confirming or denying such reports.

This is but one example of the exchanges that seem de riguer for the White House press briefings and the morning gaggle, which begs the question, what is the point? How effective is the gaggle and the press briefing as a venue for the exchange of information between the White House and reporters?

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Unless you're glued to C-SPAN watching the Alito hearings (or maybe not), here's a look at some of what we came across here and there on the Web that's worth a quick look:



We’d be remiss if we didn’t share with you the news that our mothership, CBSNews.com, has launched a new feature on the site that culls the best of the best blog buzz – and not just that related to the media, that’s what we’re here for. This week, Blogophile, written by CBSNews.com’s Melissa McNamara, rounds up ‘spherians coverage of everything from the announcement that the messiah of fake news, Jon Stewart, will be hosting the Oscars to blog reax during Judge Samuel Alito’s confirmation hearings.



Speaking of culling the best of the best, Henry Seltzer over at PressGaggle.com pores over the White House Press Briefing transcripts (occasionally, at least) in search of the finest in gaggle humor. Here’s a nice bit from yesterday’s gaggle:

Q Scott, I just want to come back to this point about irresponsibility, because there seems to be --



MR. McCLELLAN: We're not talking about you.



Q Not today, anyway. (Laughter.)

Ah, woe is the White House reporter.

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