Over on Jake Tapper's blog (of all places), ABC News' Yunji de Nies reports that some journalists are getting a bit pissy at the Whitehouse for announcing Wednesday's press conference via Twitter:
The White House Press Corps are usually the first to get wind of a presidential news conference. First come the whispers, then comes the official word -- usually in an email from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs or one of his deputies. Today, there had been buzz of a pending presser all afternoon, but no official word from the White House. Then, at 4:23 p.m., the announcement came -- from an unexpected channel: Twitter.com.
The tweet read "@whitehouse You heard it here first: Primetime presidential news conference at the White House, Wed. 7/22 @ 9PM EDT"
...
Julie Mason, Washington Examiner reporter and at-large White House Correspondents' Association board member-elect, says the announcing a major news event via the niche-medium bothers her.
"If the administration wants to have a twitter conference, then Twitter is the way to go. For a press conference? Notify the press," Mason said.
Uh, Ms. Mason, hello? What does it matter how you find out about the press conference? It's going to be on Wednesday at 9PM at the White House no matter what. That fact is set in stone. Do you really think how you find out about it makes a whit of difference?
The truth is, these #dickwhisperers think that they are entitled to know everything first, and that they and only they should decide what information to share. Before the Internet, they pretty much got what they wanted, but now -- even though the walls haven't yet been completely torn down -- they no longer serve as the only filter in town.
Things like the Whitehouse's Tweet reminds them of that, and it makes them angry -- and when they get angry, we see their petty side, and there is no better example of that than watching them get bent out of shape by a stupid effing Tweet.