ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN have all named their White House correspondents for the new administration, and now Fox News has made their selection as well.
Major Garrett has been named Senior White House Correspondent today, after following Barack Obama on the campaign trail during the ’08 election (The Huffington Post has the internal memo).
The former chief White House correspondent, Bret Baier, started in his new role as anchor of “Special Report” last week.
There is no word from Fox News on any other D.C. changes. Carl Cameron (who was the chief WH correspondent before Baier and followed John McCain on the trail) remains chief political correspondent and Wendell Goler as a White House correspondent.
Click continued to see the memo (which recalls Garrett’s days at CNN)…
To: All
From: John Moody
Subj: Major Garrett
1/13/09
Major Garrett taught me to hate seeing his name.
Every time he popped up on CNN, or his byline appeared in U.S. News and World Report, I knew he was either going to report something we didn’t have, or else lay out well-trod information in a way that would guarantee viewers and readers understood it.
When Major finally came to Fox News in 2002, we began to benefit from his scrupulous reporting, thorough sourcing, and eminent fairness.
Just before the Iraq war began, we asked Major to move to the Pentagon, where he became a prime in-house source of information about the unprecedented military action our country was taking. The next year, 2004, he was back at what he does best – politics – covering the presidential campaign with that reliable, calm style that let viewers know he knew what he was talking about. His 2005 book, The Enduring Revolution, How the Contract with America Continues to Shape the Nation, explained how the conservative surge of the 1990s shaped the first years of 21st Century US politics.
This past year, Major covered the Democratic Party’s wild nominating fracas, pitting the first serious female and African-American candidates for our nation’s highest office against one another. After Barack Obama emerged victorious, Major took on the challenge of covering that historic candidacy, outnumbered and often out of favor. As usual, no matter what obstacles presented themselves, Major outperformed the competition and made us proud.
Today, I no longer hate seeing Major Garrett, except when he’s telling me we got it all wrong and that he – Major – will now untangle the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.
I’ve called Major a lot of things. I’m proud to call him a colleague. Today, I’m also pleased to announce that he is our Senior White House correspondent, effective immediately.
That’ll teach him.