The story is meant to dissipate the shallow energies of the lazy media force.
This is classic Rovian politics: put out a shiny new bauble to distract the journalists. They will drop the old toy in exchange for the new one just as sure as Pavlov's dog would drool with the doorbell.
The tactical reality is that it has already worked. The Press Room has moved right on over to the new toy that was so generously delivered by Uncle Karl.
By the way, the new name for the Press Room should be the Nursery. There is no courage in that room. Hell, even Wolf apparently believes that Jim/Jeff gets a pass (Karl probably threatened his hairdo).
The Fourth Estate has become Rove's Annex.