NYT: New Aide Aims to Defrost the Press Room

[kskiska]

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

Maybe it's one of those tales that have grown taller in the telling, maybe it's not, but Nicolle Devenish, the new communications director of a White House not known for its love affair with the press, says she was once fired for being too nice to reporters.

(snip)

On Friday, the second day of Ms. Devenish's job as a new public face of the White House, she still wasn't laughing about the firing. But she was talking about it in a brief telephone interview as a way of suggesting that her intentions were to improve the contentious relationship between a secretive White House and the press.

Whether that can happen is an open question, since the relationship between any White House and the press corps is contentious. The current "don't ask us we won't tell you" press policy is in any case set by Mr. Bush, who distrusts the press and still blames it for his father's defeat.

Ms. Devenish, who was the communications director for Mr. Bush's re-election campaign, begs to differ about his attitude toward the press. "I don't think the president keeps the press at arm's length, and I think the president has a healthy respect for the press that covers him," she said. Her view is that it is always better to engage with reporters, even if she sometimes feels like strangling them.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2005/01/10/politics/10letter.html

[jpgray]

1. Yeah, the media have really been going after George in retaliation

:eyes:

[rooboy]

2. Keep a cardboard box handy, Nicolle...

I have a feeling you'll be cleaning out your desk by the end of the month.

[Rose Siding]

3. I'm guessing this piece is to salve Bumiller's guilt?...

as the one Devenish was nice to, because this is some puff piece-ery going on here.

[hatrack]

4. Defrost? WH Press Corpse needs defibrillator paddles, not space heaters

Pathetic.

[TahitiNut]

5. "Beware of Dog!!"

The young ones aren't housebroken, the old ones are toothless, and the rest are obedience-trained. They'd all rather lie in the sun and take the food they're given rather than go hunt for it themselves. I'm talking about the White House Press Corps, not dogs. Nonetheless, the people who live there like to keep the sign out - it impresses the neighbors, and fools.