Notes from The East Room: “Another Shift in the Ever-Evolving News Media Landscape”

By Chris Ariens 

The New York Times, Jeff Zeleny: President Obama on Monday evening became the 10th American president to call on Helen Thomas at a White House news conference. And he was the first to call on Sam Stein, a reporter for The Huffington Post, whose Internet publication sprung to life during Mr. Obama’s candidacy…It was not the answer but the very fact that he took a question from Mr. Stein that created a buzz and signaled yet another shift in the ever-evolving news media landscape.

The Washington Post, Howard Kurtz: Obama made a bit of history by calling on the first blogger at such a session, Sam Stein of the liberal Huffington Post. Stein asked about a cause popular on the left, the creation of a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate Bush administration wrongdoing.

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Ratings on the broadcast nets: 36.9 million viewers watched on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. According to Nielsen fast-nationals ABC led with 11.5 million viewers, followed by CBS with 9.78 million, NBC with 9.75 million and Fox with 5.9 million. (Those numbers may change when final ratings are released).

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