are you worried about fair media coverage of Bush and Kerry?

[grasswire]

Yes. The press is going after Bush at the moment. And Kerry is able to generate some positive press. But the White House press office continues to apply pressure to White House correspondents. We know this will become excruciating, and we know what happened in campaign 2000 to Al Gore.

This is why I'm working to promote a People's Bill of Rights for White House Transparency. Here are the principles, as proposed:

1. The White House Correspondents Association shall be the sole credentialing authority for entry to press events and briefings.

2. The president shall appear before the White House press corps for a regularly scheduled monthly conference of no less than two hours.

3. Questions will be asked of the president in an order to be determined by the White House Correspondents Association.

4. No questions will be submitted in advance to White House employees. No suggestions for questions will be communicated from the White House to reporters.

5. No credentialed members of the press will be denied access to any press event except by the decision of the White House Correspondents Association.

6. Members of the White House press shall not accept faxes, phone calls, e-mails or other communications from the political office of the WH, from political campaigns, from the RNC, the DNC, or lobbyists or other politics-based agents, unless the reporter has initiated the contact. Such entities may provide copy of any background material to a WHCA library where it will be available for reporters.

7. There shall be no contact between political advisors to the White House and reporters for the purpose of punishing members of the press for their coverage. If the White House has a complaint, it shall be made in writing by the press secretary and submitted to the White House Correspondents Association, with any remedy or admonishment to be made by the Association to the correspondent in question.
.......................

I've attracted some good feedback from Washingtonians. The Washington Post even linked to my blog site, where the argument for this Bill of Rights is presented.

Check it out at http://webdems.blogspot.com

The site is still being tweaked; the basics are there, though.

[NC_Nurse]

1. Very impressive!

I hope it catches on and is enacted! I'm sick of the Bush Cabal controlling all the info out there!

[Jane Austin]

2. boy!

That would change the whole tenor of Washington!

Congratulations.

[BillZBubb]

3. Wonderful idea!

I'll bet Democrats would support this fully. I'll bet Repugs hate the idea.

[dbt]

4. To answer your question, no.

I have complete faith that the Media Borg will go back to worshipping bu$h's underwear* any second now!

:argh:
dbt
*if any

[grasswire]

5. and...........

.....what are you going to do about it?

Help me promote this Bill of Rights. Post the link where you can and send it around to your email lists.

We don't stop the right by sittin on our butts.