The elite newshawks are pissed!

Bush Pulls Press Corps Bypass: CBS Says President Declaring a 'PR War' by Speaking Directly to Local News:

An initiative by President Bush on Columbus Day to bypass most of the White House press corps and take his message about what America is doing in Iraq to the American heartland was pronounced a success last week by an administration spokesman.

"It was an effort to reach Americans that get their news from their local television stations," said Allen Abney, a White House spokesman.

However, a CBS report labeled it the "public relations equivalent of a declaration of war."

The Bush media blast came in the form of a series of exclusive eight-minute-long interviews that the White House arranged with the five major station groups it said regularly cover the White House-Cox Television, Hearst-Argyle Television, Tribune Broadcasting, Belo and Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Station representatives said no ground rules were set on what questions could be asked.

Er, what's the problem?

At the major networks' news departments, top executives seemed to feel that the journalistic sky had not fallen. They noted the networks had quick access to the video and audio from the regional interviews. Some doubted that the White House gambit would significantly alter the public's perception of the president and his performance.

Still, on a slow news day-because it was a holiday-the fact that Mr. Bush was talking to regional television outlets, but not the networks, made it into the Big 3 network evening newscasts. CBS News White House correspondent John Roberts, whose report was the one that likened the move to a war declaration, echoed the frequently heard opinion that the White House felt that local news interviewers would not question him as strenuously or insightfully as the press corps at the White House every day.

Bwhahaha! There's a hoot. Needless to say, the reporters the President talked to didn't feel that way.

And here's the closer:

It is likely that the Bush administration will take this tack again. Recent research has shown that more Americans get their news from their local stations than from the TV networks. Indeed, a Radio and Television News Directors Foundation study earlier this year found that 49.9 percent of the public said they get most of their news from local stations, while only 23.2 percent said they get it from national TV networks.

Sounds like a smart move to me.