Drives Leadership to Toe with the White House Over Thorny Issues Such As Transparency
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE BOARD 3 Ed Chen, Bloomberg The Los Angeles Times swept Ed Chen into the White House right after President Urge to ‘Give Back’ Bill Clinton’s impeachment. He left the paper in 2006 — but after a year’s break from journalism, he returned as Bloomberg’s White House correspondent. This is Chen’s eighth year on the WHCA board. Colleagues say Chen is a calming force amid a turbulent time in the profession. He’s a tough diplomat who can go toe Drives Leadership to toe with the White House over thorny issues such as transparency. But the hardest part of the job for Chen? “The dinner, without question,” he said. BY KENdra Marr He has spent the past two months squeezing the demand for 300 tables into a ballroom that fits only 260, battling a potential lawsuit and soothing hurt feelings. At the dinner, Chen, the association’s first elected minority president, will sit next to Obama, the nation’s first black president. “Change comes to Washington, even to the news media,” he said. 4 Ed Henry, CNN CNN’s Ed Henry began shooting his stand-ups in front of the White House in 2006. And he ran for the board’s TV seat a year later. “I wanted to give something back, not just show up and punch the clock,” he said. Henry jokes that, like a good politician, he listens to his constituents. He’s fought the White House press office for more access, questioning a recent decision to bar cameras from a critical foreign policy meeting. But he also succeeded in replacing the microwave — which had stains dating back to the first Bush administration — in the press break room. As chairman of the microwave subcommittee, Henry navigated the perplexing process of ordering a new 8 appliance through the General Services Administration and getting it through White 3 House security. “Nothing is easy in government,” he said. 4 ULIA WHISTON J 5 Steve Scully, C-SPAN C-SPAN’s Steve Scully arrived at the White House after Clinton’s 1992 election IRECTOR IRECTOR victory. Since then, he’s served as producer, host and editor at C-SPAN. “It’s a front- D row seat to history,” he said. “It’s an incredible honor to be there.” To a network that devotes hours upon hours to covering events, interviewing 5 2 XECUTIVE newsmakers and following the political process, access is essential, said Scully, who 7 E is serving his second term on the board, after a 2006 stint as WHCA president. On Obama’s first day in office, Scully challenged his decision to retake the oath of office without cameras. “We were very loud and clear: You cannot do this,” he said. EHNER AND L E Then, when the president reneged on his campaign promise to allow C-SPAN 1 G unfettered access to the debates and decisions surrounding health care reform, 6 Scully stepped up again. “Anytime they acquiesce and say, ‘OK, have a reporter or have a photographer,’ that’s a victory,” he said. “Those are small but real victories.” 6 Caren Bohan, Reuters Caren Bohan began her journalism career at Reuters as an intern covering the 1992 presidential elections. “It was an exciting election year,” she said. “It helped spark my interest. I always wanted to cover politics.” Years later, she rose through the ranks to become the wire service’s economics reporter at the White House in 2003. “It’s a wonderful thing in our country,” said Bohan, who ran unopposed for the board’s wire seat last year and will become WHCA president in 2011. “Reporters are actually in the West Wing a few steps from the Oval Office.” But Bohan said she would like to see more presidential news conferences. While Obama does a lot of interviews, they often focus on the news of the day or specific john shinkle — politico; also pictured are aTTORNEY GEOR john shinkle — politico; also pictured are aTTORNEY themes; news conferences deliver a more unexpected, off-the-wall range of questions, she said. “It’s a chance to see how they think on their feet,” she said. 1 Julie Mason, Washington Examiner 7 Don Gonyea, NPR Julie Mason landed in the White House to cover President George W. Bush’s The rush of shaping a complex issue into a clear, concise package on the tightest second term for the Houston Chronicle. In 2008, she jumped to the Washington deadlines keeps NPR’s Don Gonyea going. Examiner, where she blogs under the banner “Beltway Confidential.” “Just the pressure of covering the beat everyone is watching,” said Gonyea, who A sense of duty called Mason to seek a spot on the White House Correspondents’ is celebrating his ninth year as a White House reporter and his 25th year in public Association board. Over the years, the WHCA had resolved a number of her broadcasting. grievances, including the time the pool van dumped her in the Russian wilderness Gonyea won the board’s radio seat last year. And his objective is to remind the alone and on deadline. “Ed Chen finally told me it was time to give back,” she said. administration that radio — while not “particularly flashy” — isn’t some old-fashioned Mason built her campaign around a pledge to distribute pool reports to anyone who thing that’s been replaced by blogs and Twitter. wants them. She won her at-large board seat in July, and since January pool reports NPR alone has 28 million listeners. “If the president sits down for a radio interview, have been free of delivery restrictions. a lot of people are going to hear it,” he said. “It’s a massive audience.” That win made it a great legislative year for Mason. Sure, President Barack Obama fulfilled his promise to pass health care reform. But Mason had a triumph of her own. 8 Doug Mills, The New York Times “My victory came earlier than his — not that we’re competing,” she said. Doug Mills was working for The Associated Press when he was thrust onto the board after an AP colleague retired in 2001. He then ran for two more consecutive 2 David Jackson, USA Today terms. David Jackson’s reporting career spans five presidential elections. But it wasn’t Mills, now a photographer with The New York Times, has pursued one goal: to until the historic 2000 Florida presidential vote recount that The Dallas Morning News help more photographers get greater access. He created a pool for independent still relocated his desk to the White House briefing room. In 2005, he moved to USA Today photographers. And he has helped lead the charge against using handouts taken by — where he’s now known as “The Oval” — blogging about Obama and digging up the official White House photographer. obscure presidential facts. “I love politics, I love competing, and I love making nice pictures,” said Mills. “It’s a great beat for a news junkie,” he said. Remember that photo of White House chief of staff Andy Card whispering into Jackson will ascend to the WHCA presidency this summer, during his third year Bush’s ear on Sept. 11, 2001, as the president sat in a classroom? That was Mills’s on the board. His goal is to address the dwindling number of news organizations work. traveling with the president. As more outlets cut back on expenses, fewer reporters, “[Card] looked a little bit agitated, like he needed to get to the president; so I photographers and camera crews are booking seats on the press charter plane. As a watched him with one eye while I was watching the president read,” he recalled. result, the cost has jumped. “It’s a vicious cycle,” he said. “When he walked over, I knew there was something big.” 40 POLITICO.