PR WATCH

Washington Post: BUSH GOES 'OVER THE HEADS' OF NATIONAL MEDIA

"The Bush administration, displeased with the news coverage of the
war in Iraq, has accelerated efforts to bypass the national media
by telling the administration's story directly to the American
public," the Washington Post's Dana Milbank writes. In an
"unprecedented effort to reach news organizations that do not
regularly cover the White House," Bush did five eight-minute
interviews with regional broadcasters yesterday. Mentioning
improvements to Iraq's hospitals and schools, Milbank reports, "he
said that 'there's a great deal of consistency' in the
administration's actions and 'a very clear strategy' while
expressing "'a sense that people in America aren't getting the
truth.' In one interview, with Hearst-Argyle, he said, 'I'm mindful
of the filter through which some news travels, and somehow you just
got to go over the heads of the filter and speak directly to the
people.'"