After two weeks of snow and snow-related traffic headaches, Washington’s media and political elite showed up to honor one of their own, Betsy Fischer, executive producer of Meet the Press. Gold, green and purple Mardi Gras themed decorations adorned Jack and Susanna Quinn’s Foxhall home.

White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod made a guest appearance in a special birthday video and noted Fischer is one of only a few people who still work for their first employer. Fischer’s media colleagues roasted and toasted themselves and Fischer, on the video and in the room, including: Greta Van Susteren and John Coale, Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd, Wolf Blitzer and Bret Baier, Mike Allen and Bob Schieffer, and 10,000 Women’s Dina Powell.

The biggest laugh came when Bloomberg’s Kevin Sheekey appeared in the video talking to someone off camera, asking help for advice on how to run for president.  The camera widened to reveal Al Sharpton suggesting Sheekey “call Betsy Fischer like I did or, more importantly, like Obama did.”

Obama notables Susan Sher and Dan Pfieffer, Sarah Feinberg, Stephanie Cutter, and Dag Vega all enjoyed Classic Catering’s jambalaya and Walter Issacson gave a thumbs up to the Louisiana food.

Fischer broke up the crowd when she called newly 40 Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham, “grandpa,” and David Gregory her “Irish twin.” Mike Feldman earned the accolade, Fischer’s “cool older brother with cute friends,” and Nicole Nason her “best friend.” Partygoer Hilary Rosen was the “cool cousin” and Carrie Stephenson, the “great sister-in-law.”

Media star sitings included Andrea Mitchell and Alan Greenspan, Jim and Autumn VandeHei, the Washington Post’s Dan Balz, Jonathan Capehart, and Ceci Connolly, as well as Evan Thomas, Ron Brownstein, Al Hunt and Judy Woodruff.

Clintonites Terry McAulliffe, Dee Dee Myers, and Steve McMahon rubbed shoulders with Republicans Ed Gillespie, Alex Castellanos, Matt Rhoades, Danny Diaz, Rob Collins and Barbara Comstock.

The dance floor remained packed all night and Winston Lord was later named hottest dancer.  Also spotted at the party: Ann Hand and Ambassador Lloyd Hand, Washington’s newest star and Miami import, Adrienne Arsht, Ambassador Capricia Marshall, Biz Bash David Adler, Kelly McCormick, Pam Stevens, Ann and Geoff Morrell, and Anita McBride.

The party was hosted by MTP anchor David Gregory and Beth Wilkinson, Newsweek’s Jon Meacham, Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren and John Coale, Nicole and David Nason, Brunswick Group’s Hilary Rosen, Glover Park’s Mike Feldman, CNN’s Carrie Stevenson, and Haddad Media’s Tammy Haddad and Ted Greenberg.

Photos by Neshan Naltchayan

gtruong Event Coverage, News Media, Washington Events Betsy Fischer, Birthday, David Axelrod, David Gregory, Mardi Gras, Meet the Press, NBC

It’s still more than two months away, but the White House Correspondents Dinner scramble for the best guests has already started to heat up. The Washington rumor mill is whispering that that ABC News has grabbed a top prize: Senatorial newbie Scott Brown. Check out FishbowlDC’s “Who Will Take McDreamy McBrown to Prom?”

Who else will show up on May 1st? Other top gets would be Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, anyone from the cast of Fox’s hit TV show “Glee,” and of course Sarah Palin. Todd Palin was Greta Van Susteren’s guest last year, seen here at the annual White House Correspondents brunch.

Greta Van Susteren with Todd Palin at the 2009 WHCInsider Garden Brunch

lrozett News Media, WHCD 2010 Guests Bob McDonnell, Greta Van Susteren, Sarah Palin, Scott Brown, Todd Palin

President Obama’s use of new media and social networking was widely praised during the campaign. That same focus a year into his presidency has some in the White House press corps grumbling, according to Howard Kurtz in today’s Washington Post:

“President Obama hasn’t held a full-scale news conference since July. Instead, he answered a dozen people’s questions last week on YouTube, most of the easily finessed and — extra bonus! — no annoying follow-ups of the kind posed by real, live journalists.”

Watch the president’s YouTube interview below:

“It’s a source of great frustration here … It’s important for us to hold the president’s feet to the fire,” CBS White House correspondent Chip Reid told Kurtz.

Click here for the complete article.

lrozett News Media Chip Reid, Howard Kurtz, President Obama

Greta Van Susteren with Todd Palin at the 2009 WHCInsider Garden Brunch

She may be big in prime time at Fox News, but Greta Van Susteren began her Washington career as a Justice Department intern and CNN contributor. Today she celebrates her 8th anniversary as the host of “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

She is the only woman who has regularly delivered top ratings in primetime cable. She has traveled more miles and interviewed more newsmakers than her competition, while being the first prime time host to do a regular web show. Check out Fox’s full-page ad in today’s Wall Street Journal.

Before Rush Limbaugh became a Miss America judge, Van Susteren gained notoriety for making a pageant contestant pass out during her interview.

Click here for the video of Greta reflecting on some of her most memorable interviews.

lrozett News Media Greta Van Susteren, Rush Limbaugh

As Republicans wonder whether allowing Obama’s exchange with GOP lawmakers to be televised was a wise political move, a campaign has started to demand more opportunities for the right and the left to ask some questions.

“[A] bipartisan group of bloggers, commentators, politicos, and Internet advocates—with a combined readership in the millions—has launched an online campaign urging President Obama, GOP House leader John Boehner and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell to make Question Time—televised and webcasted—a regular feature of American democracy. You can join this call at DemandQuestionTime.com,” writes David Corn (@DavidCornDC) in an article in today’s Mother Jones.

Evidently, interest was overwhelming: the campaign website was down this morning.

Watch the video of the President’s appearance at the House GOP Issues Conference in Baltimore.

lrozett News Media David Corn, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, President Obama

The White House announced in a blog post this morning that President Obama will “take questions from YouTube users next Wednesday at a live White House event,” according to Talking Points Memo. Christina Bellantoni reports the project, which was not announced through the usual press channels, is “another example of the Obama team circumventing the Washington establishment to communicate more directly with voters.”

There’s already a free White House iPhone app that will live stream the president’s State of the Union address tomorrow night.

Click here for the rest of Bellantoni’s article.

lrozett Media Strategy, News Media Christina Bellantoni, President Obama, State of the Union

Jay Leno’s back at the Tonight Show (in March) and back at the WHCD (in May), a venue he “headlined in 2004, 2000 and 1987,” according to Ed Henry’s report this morning at CNN.

The WH Correspondents Association, which hosts the annual dinner to raise money for college scholarships and journalism prizes, invited the comic weeks ago when “he was simply the host of a prime-time show that was failing five nights a week. But when he appears at the [dinner] … Leno will be the guy who pushed aside Conan O’Brien,” writes Lisa de Moraes in today’s Washington Post.

Click here for Lisa’s write up.

lrozett DC, News Media, Washington Events Conan O'Brien, Ed Henry, Jay Leno, Lisa de Moraes, White House Correspondents Association

Carlos Allen, the alleged “third crasher” at the November State Dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, insists he had an invitation, so says his lawyer in The Washington Post. Like Tareq and Michaela Salahi, Allen has a somewhat clouded professional history in the DC-area: his Mount Pleasant event space, his web site and other entrepreneurial ventures may not have current licenses or registrations.

Click here for the rest of Amy Argetsiner’s article.

lrozett News Media Amy Argetsinger, carlos allen, Manmohan Singh, Michaela Salahi, Tareq Salahi

“Anything that is useful to both dissidents in Iran and Martha Stewart has a lot going for it.”

For WHCInsiders who were out of New York Times range: on the first day of 2010 media maven and bestselling author David Carr declared, “Twitter has more raw capability for users than anything since e-mail.”

Click here for the complete story.

lrozett News Media David Carr, Martha Stewart

Mark Zuckerberg got a big present from Santa this year: Facebook had more traffic on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day than Google. That’s a first, according to Hitwise, which tweeted the news.

MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka predicts Facebook could get a repeat on New Year’s Eve.

Click here for Kafka’s article.

lrozett News Media Mark Zuckererg, Peter Kafka

As kids live more of their lives online–through social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and LiveJournal–schools are looking for ways to cope. Slate’s Nicholas Bramble suggests schools should try to harness students’ interest and creativity by integrating social media in the classroom, rather than stifle it.

“After all, it’s not as if most kids are investing commensurate energy into, say, their math homework. Why not try to start bridging the worlds of Facebook, YouTube, and the classroom?”

Bramble shares the warnings of John Dewey from a century ago:

“when teachers suppress children’s natural interests in the classroom, they ’substitute the adult for the child, and so weaken intellectual curiosity and alertness, suppress initiative, and deaden interest.’ By locking social networking out of school, teachers and principals are making exactly that error.”

Click here for the rest of the article: “Fifth Period Is Facebook”

lrozett News Media Nicholas Bramble

Now that the dust has settled and the 2009 election results have sunk in, the pondering and pontificating by the pundit elite (and not so elite) continues on cable news and online media sites about what the results mean for the president and the nation’s political future. Much of what is discussed is, and will continue to be, partisan in nature (as is the nature of cable news) and quite frankly, without much merit or solid research beyond party talking points and Wikipedia entries.

Discussions have been playing out on MSNBC, CNN and Fox News on whether Obama’s coattails are still strong; whether 2009 elections are a prediction of the 2010 midterms; whether the GOP can turn 2 key gubernatorial wins into a midterm Congressional movement, and so on. Most of these are unknowns, but there is one major continuous thread of the ‘08 and now ‘09 election cycle that is guaranteed to be part of every successful future campaign whether GOP or Dem or Conservative or Independent: the integrated use of social media and online communications (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, SMA, web 2.0, etc), combined with an authentic, engaging candidate, must be paramount within a campaign’s overall strategy in order to be successful.

Read more…

LBrenner News Media Chris Christie, Mayor Bloomberg, President Obama, Robert McDonnell, Scott Goodstein

While Congress is debating the controversy over the gatecrashers at last week’s State Dinner, this week White House reporters are debating the new pool policy of the White House Correspondents Association.

Click HERE for Michael Calderone’s write up about online news organizations being added to the White House in-town press pool.

lrozett News Media

Business CEO’s are part of an Obama “corporate kitchen cabinet,” according to Politico’s Eamon Javers. The members lean heavily toward the tech and financial sectors: Eric Schmidt of Google, Jeff Immelt of GE, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, and Robert Wolf of UBS.

Wolf has even “scored an invitation to golf with Obama” — but there’s no free lunch for the corporate chieftains. “Each executive is asked for a credit card number and subsequently billed for [their] meal.”

CLICK here for the complete story.

lrozett News Media Eamon Javers, Eric Schmidt, Jamie Dimon, Jeff Immelt, President Obama, Robert Wolf

A new Pew survey confirms what everybody already knows: Fox is a conservative channel. But CBS’s Charles Cooper discovered that a viewer’s opinion about channel bias depends on which side of the ideological couch the viewer sits on:

• 57% of liberals think Fox is conservative, but only 29% of them think MSNBC is liberal.
• 44% of conservatives think Fox is on their side, but 48% think MSNBC plays for the other team.

And proof that some people need to turn off their TV: 14% said Fox was “mostly liberal.”

Click here for the rest of “Coop’s Corner.”

lrozett News Media CBS, Charles Cooper, Fox News, MSNBC