Washington Whispers
Greta to Reporters: Scrap the TV Egos
Greta Van Susteren, the No. 1 woman on cable TV by a mile, thinks she's found the answer to what audiences want. Give it to them straight, and junk the 'tude. "I think the news has changed," says the host of Fox News Channel's top-rated On the Record. "I think people no longer want to listen so much to us reporting." So, rejecting artsy shots of her interviewing newsmakers, the Washington-based Van Susteren takes just one camera on location. "Shoot the story," she tells her crew. "Don't shoot me." She also makes nice on the Internet: "I answer viewer E-mails during commercial breaks." Then there's her "GretaWire," where she chats about things like her dream job of working at Animal Planet. "It's the only time we can drop out of the formal aspects and seriousness of the news and have a little fun," she says of her blog.
It helps that she's a techie. "I love the technology," says the 5-foot, 3-inch Van Susteren, who lugs around a BlackBerry, a Motorola Q cellphone, a Sony camera and camcorder, and two laptops. When she left CNN for Fox in 2002, her first request was for a BlackBerry. "No one knew what I was talking about," she says. "I almost fell over." At last year's Christmas party, the head of Fox's IT department told her he now services 430 BlackBerrys. "I'm a trendsetter," says Van Susteren. "Either that or I'm a work creator."
That Times Leak Was No Surprise
Before you jump in with those heaping scorn on the New York Times for using a leak to reveal the secret Treasury program to search financial transactions for terrorist activities, know this: The Treasury Department expected it to leak. When the program was developed in 2003, a press plan was included. The goal: Get out front with the spin that there are safeguards to prevent snooping on private accounts, that it is legal, and that there are big benefits to it. "These three elements needed to be in the first-day story," says an insider. The plan worked. When the Times told Treasury it was running the story, top Treasury aides were OK'd to talk to the Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times, which presented the three points. "It was a textbook case of very good PR management," says the insider.
Sorry, Wolf, but It's Fox in the Sit Room
The real Situation Room--the war council office in the White House basement--is getting a face-lift, and even though he has a show called the Situation Room, we hear that CNN's Wolf Blitzer isn't on the bank of TVs in the design mock-up. Surprise, surprise--they all feature Fox.
First Family Feud Over 2008 Pick
White House insiders say President Bush and first lady Laura Bush are engaged in a good-natured bid to push their faves for the 2008 presidential nomination. "There are two wild cards in the race," says our tipster. "The first lady likes Condi" Rice, the secretary of state. "She has a great story to tell," says the insider of Rice. But Bush likes his bro, Jeb Bush, the Florida governor. "He thinks Jeb'd be the best." One problem: Neither wants the job.
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