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“Like Awaiting a Rock Star”

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President-Elect Works the Washington Post Newsroom

"It was . . . like awaiting a rock star," Washington Post reporter Nikita Stewart recalled on Friday.  "When he changed course at one point and went down a different hallway, reporters and other employees of the paper followed. It bordered on a stampede."

Howard Kurtz, the Post’s media reporter, put it this way online on Thursday night:

"There hasn’t been this much excitement in The Washington Post newsroom since Brad Pitt dropped by.

"Barack Obama, here for a meeting today with Post editors and reporters, did what came naturally for a politician: He worked the room. The whole room. The whole room of grizzled journalistic veterans, most of whom stood and, well, stared."

"The mob scene (while not quite as large as when Pitt was studying the newsroom for a movie from which he later withdrew) underscored one thing: Obama is not just on the verge of assuming the presidency, he is a worldwide celebrity.

"Camera phones flashed as Obama, trailed by Post Co. chief executive Donald Graham, began his stroll around the fifth-floor newsroom’s perimeter, shaking hands and greeting nearly 200 staffers. ‘Where are the sportswriters? he asked. ‘I want to ask about the Redskins, Nationals and Wizards.’"

"The shouted questions were about what you would expect from the heart of one of the world’s great newspapers.

"’Did you like Ben’s Chili Bowl?’ asked Metro reporter Theola Labb?©-DeBose, referring to Obama’s recent visit to the downtown eatery.

"’That half-smoke’s all right,’ Obama said.

Deputy Managing Editor Milton Coleman gave Obama a copy of the paper’s special election edition proclaiming Obama’s victory. "While the environment seemed safe enough, a Secret Service agent ordered national security editor Carlos Lozada to take his hands out of his pockets," Kurtz wrote.

Reporter and Chicago native Lonnae O’Neal Parker told Journal-isms she stuck to a spot where Obama was sure to pass. Her strategy worked. "He looked rested. He’s got a real sense of comportment to him," Parker said. She quickly told him she was from the South Side.

Obama’s newsroom visit followed a wide-ranging session with the Post’s editorial board, which aides famously boasted that he had never visited during the campaign. Campaign manager David Plouffe told the New York Times’ Mark Leibovich, ”You could go to Cedar Rapids and Waterloo and understand that people aren’t reading The Washington Post.”

The Post endorsed him anyway.

"As journalists, it’s been interesting to watch how he handles the press," Stewart said.

The newspaper posted audio of the meeting on its Web site, Obama said he has a handful of specific missions involving the majority-black city, including paying regular visits to its public schools, helping to decrease homelessness and continuing his regular Friday "date night" with his wife, Michelle, by going out to local restaurants, as Anne E. Kornblut reported in Friday’s Post.

Reflecting on the editorial board meeting, Michael Fletcher, a black journalist who is covering the Obama White House, told Journal-isms, "The president-elect seems to have a clear vision of where he wants to take the country. And the thing that comes across most is that he seems to be very confident that he has what it takes to manage his team, many of whom have strong, sometimes contrasting, views."

Helene Cooper of the New York Times, another black journalist newly assigned to the White House beat, betrayed what some saw as a pinch of jealousy in her pool report on Obama’s stopover:

"After three and a half hours at his transition office, PEOTUS obama took another 6 minute ride through washington, arriving at 157 pm at the nondescript soviet-style building at 15th and L street that houses the washington post," she wrote, using an acronym for "President-elect of the United States."

"Around 100 people – Post reporters perhaps? – awaited PEOTUS’s arrival, cheering and bobbing their coffee cups.

"Pool is holding in a van outside, while Mr obama does his washington post interview, and will exercise enormous restraint by ending report before saying what really thinks about this turn of events."

Some took Cooper’s "reporters perhaps?" jibe seriously.

"For the record, eyewitnesses say these were just onlookers from nearby buildings," Kurtz wrote. "But Matt Drudge depicted it thusly in a red-ink headline: ‘CHEERING AT THE WASHINGTON POST FOR OBAMA ARRIVAL.’"

Networks Mix MLK Day, Historic Inaugural Coverage

The broadcast and cable networks are taking advantage of the juxtaposition of the Martin Luther King Day holiday on Monday with the inauguration of Barack Obama on Tuesday to present at least two days of Obama coverage.

Moreover, "The communal experience of next week’s presidential inauguration will extend beyond the Mall in Washington to include movie theaters and even coffee shops across the country,"¬†Brian Stelter reported for the New York Times.

And, as Mike Shields reported for Media Week, "the number of Web sites planning to stream the live ceremonies continues to grow — leading some to speculate that it may produce the most viewed event" in the history of cyberspace.

"It should be no surprise," as Toni Fitzgerald wrote for Media Life magazine, "that Obama’s Tuesday inauguration will be reported on by everyone from ESPN to QVC, along with the expected networks like NBC and CNN."

Mike Reynolds reported for Multichannel News that MLB Network will pay tribute to African American ballplayers of the past on King Day with the debut of documentary "Pride and Perseverance: The Story of the Negro Leagues." This one-hour special, narrated by Hall of Famer and Negro Leagues advocate Dave Winfield, premieres at 9 p.m. on Monday.

For $2.5 million, HBO purchased the rights to air Sunday’s all-star "We Are One" concert at the Lincoln Memorial (check local listings).¬† Walt Disney Co. paid $2 million to Obama’s inaugural organizing committee for two programs that will air on its Disney Channel and on its ABC network: a children’s concert Monday night that will be seen on the Disney Channel and Tuesday’s "Neighborhood Inaugural Ball," the first of 10 official balls, that will air on ABC. Also, MTV paid $650,000 for rights to broadcast the Tuesday night "Youth Ball."

The contracts have prompted questions about the inaugural committee’s efforts to raise funds "by turning inaugural events into TV productions that benefit a single entertainment concern, rather than pooling the footage so that it is widely available to all," Paul Farhi wrote for Saturday’s editions of the Washington Post.

How diverse will the journalists in front of the camera be? Here are some of the coverage plans:

ABC

ABC News’ coverage¬†begins with a three-hour edition of "Good Morning America" at 7 a.m. Eastern/ 4 a.m. Pacific on Tuesday. Robin Roberts joins Deborah Roberts and Bill Weir reporting from the Washington Mall. Pierre Thomas is to report on the day’s security operations, including the challenges the expected crowd pose on law enforcement. Democratic strategist Donna Brazile joins commentators Matthew Dowd, Cokie Roberts and George Will.

NewsOne, the news feed service of ABC News, will have live reports from Washington featuring Viviana Hurtado among three ABC News correspondents.

Howard University announced that from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., senior Kenya Downs, a speech communication major, will be featured along with Will, Dowd, Brazile and others providing analysis and commentary. Afro-American studies professor Dr. Greg Carr and eight students will be part of a studio audience that will discuss the presidential election process and the inaugural festivities, the school said.

BET

BET News says it plans extensive on-air and online live coverage, news specials, extended news briefs and on-air crawls starting this weekend. Much of it will be entertainment-oriented. 

"On Tuesday, January 20, Hill Harper (BET J’s The Best Shorts, CSI: NY) and Rene Syler (former host of The Early Show) will co-anchor BET News’ coverage of the Inauguration Swearing-In Ceremony and Parade. Harper and Syler will be joined by Jeff Johnson and the rest of the BET News team, celebrities, intellectuals and iconic figures as they walk our audience through the significant moments in our history that led to this day, and reflect on the community ‚Äî both young and old," a news release says.

On Monday from 10:30 to 11 p.m., a special, "King to Obama," examines Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s influence on President-elect Barack Obama. It repeats on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Eastern. "The Obama Effect," which airs from 11¬†to 11:30 p.m. on Monday, repeating on Tuesday at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., is promoted thus: "From 6-year-olds to 106-year-olds, Black people of all generations have been moved by our President-elect. A cross-section of Americans of all ages reflects on this historic moment."

CBS

Katie Couric anchors coverage on Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  as well as a live, one-hour prime-time special, "Change and Challenge: The Inauguration of Barack Obama" (9-10 p.m., Eastern and Pacific, and a live Webcast on CBSNews.com and  CNET.com at 10 p.m. Eastern.

CBS News correspondents Russ Mitchell and Byron Pitts are among those joining Couric. "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez also contributes.

 

CNN


Soledad O’Brien joins other CNN anchors kicking off CNN’s coverage during the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Wolf Blitzer will anchor "The Obama Express," documenting Obama’s whistlestop journey from Philadelphia to Washington. Blitzer, joined by Anderson Cooper, John King, O’Brien and CNN political analyst Roland Martin, plans to broadcast from atop the Newseum, a key vantage spot on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Evening programming continues with special, live editions of "CNN Newsroom" with Don Lemon from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

On Sunday, the president-elect, senior Obama adviser David Axelrod, Bush White House press secretary Dana Perino and Bush White House counselor Ed Gillespie will all appear on the inaugural broadcast of "State of the Union" with John King from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The day’s programming also includes a live edition of "Fareed Zakaria ‚Äì GPS" from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

On Monday, CNN will mark King’s birthday by reporting on the inauguration within the context of King’s dream. The day begins with a special edition of "American Morning." From 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., Kiran Chetry and John Roberts will anchor live from the National Mall, where hundreds of thousands heard King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in 1963.

From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., anchors O’Brien and Lemon, with Martin, will host "From MLK to Today," also from the Mall. "The special programming will focus on how far the nation has come from the day King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the day Barack Obama will stand on the steps of the U.S. Capitol as the first African-American president."

 

NBC Networks

NBC

The NBC anchor team includes "Weekend Today" and "Weekend Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt, and Ron Allen, Ann Curry, Rehema Ellis, Natalie Morales, Al Roker and John Yang will report from various points within Washington.

On Monday and Tuesday, NBC News plans special editions of "Today" with Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Curry and Roker anchoring live from Washington. Morales will also be reporting from Washington on Tuesday.

MSNBC

MSNBC will telecast live outdoors on the Mall with coverage led by Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow and Eugene Robinson, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, and again from 10 p.m. to midnight Eastern.

CNBC
CNBC is airing special live programming, "CNBC Reports: President Obama & Your Money," from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, with reports from Carl Quintanilla, among others.

On Inauguration Day, CNBC will have Quintanilla and John Harwood in place for "Squawk Box" (6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Eastern) from Washington. Quintanilla will co-anchor "CNBC Reports" from Washington that evening.

Telemundo

Telemundo will have news anchor Pedro Sevcec and "Al Rojo Vivo’s" Maria Celeste live from Washington on Monday and Tuesday. Coverage will include live reports on Telemundo’s national newscast and "Al Rojo Vivo," news briefs throughout the day and blogs on telemundo.com. The network will also air a live two-hour special hosted by Sevcec and Celeste on Tuesday at 11 a.m. Eastern.

National Public Radio

As reported this month, Farai Chideya, host of National Public Radio’s canceled "News & Notes," decided to leave the show because NPR decided it was "not feasible" for the California-based program to be in Washington to cover the inauguration. She told listeners farewell on Friday.

NPR News says it is offering six hours of special broadcast and webcast coverage of the inauguration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern, in addition to its regular programming.

Two teams are anchoring NPR News’ special broadcast. Steve Inskeep of "Morning Edition" and Michele Norris of "All Things Considered" will host from the West Front of the Capitol from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern.

Reporters will broadcast from Washington’s historic U Street Corridor and from Harlem, Chicago and Birmingham, Ala. NPR will also check in with Baghdad Bureau Chief Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, foreign correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson in Kabul, Afghanistan, and East Africa correspondent Gwen Thompkins at a viewing party in Kenya, the network said.

Correspondents Audie Cornish will be among the reporting team, and civil rights historians are to participate.

Michel Martin, host of "Tell Me More," told Journal-isms she expects to broadcasting her show from NPR’s site at the Canadian embassy and assist Neal Conan with a call-in show from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

PBS


On Tuesday, beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern, Jim Lehrer anchors PBS’ inauguration coverage, with Peniel Joseph, professor of history and African American studies at Brandeis University, joining others to provide historical context.

From 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, "Frontline" presents "Dreams of Obama," a biography of the president-elect.

"The Tavis Smiley Show," airing from 11 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Eastern, looks back at Obama’s six appearances on the show, dating to his days as a little-known Illinois state senator.

TV One

TV One will offer 24 hours of programming devoted to the inauguration, starting Tuesday at 7 a.m. Eastern. with a special episode of "The Gospel of Music with Jeff Majors" that pays tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King and President-elect Obama,followed from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. by "In Conversation: The Michelle Obama Interview," conducted by commentator Roland Martin as a precursor to the Democratic National Convention in August. At 9 a.m., TV One airs "President-elect: Believe: The Barack Obama Story," a documentary hosted by Martin.

Live coverage begins at 10 a.m., anchored by the team that led TV One’s live coverage of the Democratic National Convention and election night in Chicago’s Grant Park: Art Fennell of CN8, The Comcast Network, and Joe Madison, XM Satellite and WOL-AM radio talk show host. Joining them throughout the day will be Tom Joyner, Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin, "Tom Joyner Morning Show" news correspondent Jacque Reid;¬† April Ryan, American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent; Ed Gordon of "Our World with Black Enterprise," pollster Shawnta Wolcott and "Russ Parr Morning Show" personality Alfredas.

TV One’s live evening coverage, "TV One Live: The Presidential Galas," airs from 10 p.m. to midnight, co-anchored by Reid and Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, with contributions from Ebony magazine Creative Director Harriette Cole, urban style and culture expert Michaela Angela Davis, TV One "Turn Up the Heat" host G. Garvin, and Jamal Munnerlyn of TV One Access, reporting from multiple balls and high-profile inaugural events.

Univision


"The full resources of the Univision Television Network will be mobilized for its most complete coverage of a presidential inauguration ever," the network says. "In addition to the network’s ‘Noticiero Univision’ nightly newscast originating from the nation’s capital for two nights starting on Monday, January 19, anchors Jorge Ramos and Mar??a Elena Salinas will lead Spanish-language television’s most trusted news team to help viewers experience this historic inauguration from a uniquely Hispanic perspective.

"Coverage will start at 7:00 am ET Tuesday during the network’s popular early morning program "Despierta Am?©rica" (Wake Up America), and will include coverage of the President-elect attending church services, a pre-inaugural meeting at the White House with President Bush, and the first of many reports throughout the day from Univision Network News correspondents Lourdes Meluz?° live from the Capitol steps, Martin Berlanga on The Mall, and Blanca Vilchez covering the parade route. ‘Despierta Am?©rica’ will also feature a special one hour live coast-to-coast edition starting at 10:00 am ET (9:00 am Central, 7:00 am Pacific) to provide the latest updates and developments leading up to the historic inauguration.

"Live network coverage continues with ‘Noticias Univision Presenta: Una Nueva Era’ (Univision News Presents: A New Era) at 11:00 am ET with anchors Jorge Ramos and Mar??a Elena Salinas. Overlooking the site of the swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol steps from Univision’s Washington, DC bureau, Ramos and Salinas will be joined by a distinguished panel of political experts to provide viewers in-depth analysis and insider information on the inauguration process, the Obama administration and its key players, as well as highlighting the policies and legislative objectives relating to issues of special importance to Hispanics."

Was Obama’s Election Divine Providence?

Sandy Banks, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, noticed that many in the black community feel that Barack Obama’s election was divine providence, but there was a real reluctance to talk about it publicly.

Her piece on that is included in a special print section of Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, "Making History: The Inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama," with related multimedia coverage posted Friday night at www.latimes.com/inauguration.

Also in the section, Rong-Gong Lin II examines the role of the Bible in the swearing-in ceremony.

The paper is also expanding its press run on Wednesday and is offering commemorative newspapers, plates, posters, magnets, mugs T-shirts, paperweights and holographic mouse pads.

In Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Tribune, one of the bulwarks of the black press, plans a special Wednesday edition and a series of podcasts, "We The People" on its Web site, http://www.phillytrib.com/tribune/ The broadcasts highlight responses in the Philadelphia community to Obama’s swearing-in.

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