White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

Archives for July 2010

Brzezinski Mother and Daughter Bring Art from Beltway Roots

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Being a family with one of Washington’s most famous political surnames (Brzezinski) can be tough to inherit. That’s why it’s inspiring to get to know  Mika the TV host and Mark the public policy maker from their mother Emilie the artist, whose show presents the literal roots of her family from the Beltway.

Emilie Brzezinski‘s Family Trees opened in May at American University’s Kazan Arts Center alongside her daughter (and Morning Joe co-host) Mika’s book release party for All Things At Once.

Mika tells WHC Insider that her mother’s  dialog with wood” takes images and prints them within trees. Mother Emilie tells us, “It’s a very natural process.”

Helen Thomas Countdown Begins

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If you like to bet on dark horses, consider August 2nd your derby come early.

Helen Thomas’ valuable front row spot in the White House Briefing Room will be determined by that Friday, according to a report from Fishbowl DC. This means the quiet battle between Fox News and Bloomberg will finally come to an end, likely with a whimper rather than explosive bang.

We already speculated about the shifts in seating, but at least we have something to look forward to when the rest of the Beltway runs away for the August recess.

Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

Ed Henry Wins WHCA Presidency

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Ed Henry, 2009 Gridiron Dinner. Haddad Media

The 2012-13 White House Correspondents Association election results are in–and so is President-Elect Ed Henry of CNN.

FishbowlDC shares the other incoming elects: Politico’s Carol Lee takes the At-Large Chair, Time’s Michael Scherer the Magazine Chair and Henry also won the TV Chair.

While congratulating Lee, Mike Allen shares the WHCA voting tally, proving the At-Large vote was the closest of the four races. Under the President write-ins, however, it’s hard not to notice one sarcastic vote for Helen Thomas.

Now that a new board has been selected, the eerily-quiet anticipation for who’ll inherit the abandoned front row seat may continue.

Good Griefing

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The best advertising can also be the most unfortunate, especially when it comes to Photoshop or domain registers.

Cases in point: Lawrence Bender, producer of Inglorious Basterds and Kill Bill, was in D.C. to promote his newest feature, the nuclear arms doc Countdown to Zero and addressed how a few Tea Party folks re-purposed the poster art from Bill.

He told Politico:

“It’s slightly humorous what they’re doing,” he said. “They’re ripping everything they can to make their point.”

On the front-end of the media spectrum, KeithOlberman.com now takes you to The Daily Caller, which is just as Tucker Carlson hopes it would. He owns the domain after all.

The moral of this? Good grief can always be avoided.

Photo: Lawrence Bender, Fame Pictures, Inc

Michelle Obama to Work Out The Web World Wide

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Don’t listen to the Internet Troll: we can (and will) work it out online. Or at least, work out.

That’s the motivator behind Let’s Move, an initiative to promote physical activity and public health.  First Lady Michelle Obama responded to questions from YouTube and a live web chat according to Politico.

Let’s Move follows the continuing trend of providing sites and the occasional web app to connect with a broader and more technologically savvy audience.

Fingers Crossed for This Week and This Fall on TV

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[picappgallerysingle id=”4987232″ align=”center”]The Beltway’s TV presence is going wider–if not global–in the coming weeks

TVNewser confirms August 1st as the start date for Christiane Amanpour’s premiere at This Week, which sadly ousts Jake Tapper from the temporary position. Meanwhile, Rick Sanchez is being bumped up to 8 pm on July 22nd until the Fall premiere of the Untitled Eliot Spitzer/Kathleen Parker Show.

[Read more…]

CNN Goes One For The Money

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Monday turned out pretty well if your name is Money Magazine.

CNNMoney and the social networking/geo-tagging site Gowalla teamed up, according to Fishbowl NY, to correspond with the “100 Best Places To Live” feature in the current issue; users can sign up for specialty mobile alerts at both CNN Money and Gowalla.

In case you were wondering, yes, this does mean the heat wave has lifted in NYC and the Beltway is still trying to get out of the muggy malaise.

Rolling Stones Freelancer Michael Hastings Gets Book Deal

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In two weeks, freelance journo Michael Hastings managed to get General Stanley A. McChyrstal sacked from his command in Afghanistan and score a book deal.

Hastings penned the now infamous Rolling Stones profile The Runaway General in which the loose-lipped McChyrstal and his aides criticized administration officials.

No publishing date or title yet, but according to publisher Little, Brown the book “will offer an unfiltered look at the war, and the soldiers, diplomats and politicians who are waging it.”

As the WSJ points out this isn’t the first publishing deal for Hastings. The former Newsweek correspondent released the memoir “I Lost My Love in Baghdad” in 2008 about his time covering the Iraq war and the tragic loss of his girlfriend who was killed in Baghdad while working with the National Democratic Institute, a Washington-based NGO.