In Which Mnemosyne Tries to Find the Answer to One of Life's Burning Questions: How does one get White House press credentials?
One of the questions that's come up frequently in connection with GannonGate is, How did this guy get White House press credentials? He gets to sit a few feet away from the president and ask questions, yet has no real journalistic experience. Or existence, as he seems to have sprung full grown from the waves, like Botticelli's Venus on the Half Shell.
So I started asking people: How would I go about getting WH press credentials -- not that I want them, mind you, but hypothetically. The hypothetical part is important to remember.
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This afternoon, I started trundling through my old Rolodex and asked some folks who work for newspapers in major metro land. Duh. They didn't know, had never thought about it.
Then I called Columbia School of Journalism. Premier J-school, right? Four calls later, and the man to whom I was referred by the dean's office hasn't returned my call. By the way, Columbia J-school has a lovely web site, with no shortage of pretty pictures. What it lacks is a phone number. Nowhere on that site could I find a phone number. Um, Columbia? We're in the communications biz, right?
Then I called the Secret Service. They're the ones who check you out. The agent I talked to in Boston sounded distinctly alarmed at my innocuous questions, and his voice got very tight and by-the-book. Referred me to the White House press office.
The old number in my Rolodex didn't work. A recording: "This is a non-working number." No other info. Cold and hostile voice, even for a mechanical one.
The woman in the Secret Service press office in Washington was a little more relaxed. She seemed to understand that a reporter asking questions was not that much of a threat. She, too, referred me to the WH press office and supplied the correct number, 202-456-2580.
"White House press office."
"Hi. I'm hoping you can help me find out some information." And I told him I was trying to find out the procedure for getting press creds. No, I wasn't wanting them now, but asking as a freelancer, stressed that the questions were hypothetical. He sounded very suspicious, also by-the-book, and young. He was at least the second, perhaps third person I talked to, but it seemed there was no one there who could take 30 seconds to answer a simple question.
"Someone will call you back." So I gave him my name and number and asked when I might expect a call back.
"Later today or tomorrow."
Now, I have had occasion to call various government agencies, including the White House, in the course of several administrations. Not until today have I felt so completely stonewalled, and for the first time in my life I was afraid to call them.
The lack of how-to info seems to indicate how easy it is to put over something like the Gannon gig. People tend to think that those in government are playing by the generally agreed-upon rules, and so they don't ask too many questions. And those in the WH press corps may not be able to -- who are they going to complain to? McClellan?
Meanwhile, I still don't know the answer to a simple question. I am not going to watch the phone, waiting for it to ring. And if I disappear, I hope someone will come by to walk my dog and water the plants.