the kicker

Bronstein: In "Obama-Press Dance… We’re The Girl"

June 9, 2009

Arguing that journalists have caught the vapors over President Obama and gone faint with their coverage, Phil Bronstein attempts at sfgate.com to provide the smelling salts, challenging reporters to “keep a closer eye on the substance thing,” what with “‘gazillions of dollars’ of our money at stake and crazy people with nukes bristling from around the edges of the world.” Writes Bronstein:

If I wanted to see highly manicured image management I’d just take some No-Doz and read Gavin Newsom’s tweets. But the Obama-press dance is a more consensual seduction where, in the old-fashioned sense, we’re the girl. (In California, there’s no other option.)

Evidence that the press has been reporting like lovesick little girls? Bronstein cites a Pew study of the coverage of Obama’s first few months in office, last week’s BriWi Inside The Obama White House special, a New York Times Sunday Styles article on the Obamas’ recent dinner-and-a-show date night (Bronstein: “a full-on chick-flick swooning”), and the many times Obama has made Newsweek‘s cover.

Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.