Tony Snow shared his thoughts on the press during an event last night at George Washington University:
The former Fox radio host had two comments of note on the press: First, he doesn’t feel that anyone can be “objective” in reporting. “God’s objective. He knows what the truth is,” he told the packed auditorium. “Everything else is scratching at the surface.” Second, the White House is continuing its efforts to bypass the mainstream media when possible: As part of his messaging for the State of the Union speech this week, Snow hosted a conference call with 25 to 30 bloggers to discuss the President’s agenda and speech. […]
What was perhaps most surprising was Snow’s audience support. Although Bush’s approval ratings hover somewhere in the 30’s, GW managed to select an overwhelmingly pro-war student audience. According to organizers, the event was the most popular in the School of Media and Public Affairs’ history—900 people applied for roughly 300 seats in the Jack Morton Auditorium—and, when Sesno took an informal poll to gauge the audience support for Bush’s proposed troop surge, a clear majority of students raised their hands. Students applauded Snow’s statement on the importance of keeping the media away from public officials’ families, including that of Vice President Cheney’s daughter, Mary, who is pregnant and a lesbian. At the same time, though, the crowd also applauded mention of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
I think “continuing its efforts to bypass the mainstream media” is a bit loaded; I doubt that Snow phrased it that way. I mean, the last time I checked he was still giving daily press briefings to the MSM. It’s this kind of typical MSM mindset that views efforts to bring bloggers into the loop as an attempt to “bypass” the mainstream media, as if they and only they should be the information gatekeepers. Sorry, but those days are over. (h/t Romenesko)