Another Controversial NBC 'Exclusive'?

As the trip was announced yesterday, word came out that Mrs. Bush’s press secretary, Susan Dryden Whitson, made an exclusive (and “unprecedented,” in the words of one network vet) deal with NBC to cover the trip–no other cameras will be allowed on the plane and there will be no pool coverage to boot.

Phone calls and conference calls are flying back and forth today between the four other networks who were shut-out of the trip, as the White House press corps speculated what behind-the-scenes action led to the deal.

No one in the press corps can remember a time when a network was given exclusive rights to an official White House overseas trip.