New York Time Puts Washington Post Pay For Play On Page One

Bill Keller is enjoying this. Maybe the Post should put this story about the New York Times on their front page.

Where George W. Bush’s team made a show of not caring about the Times, aides in this White House treat the paper with a deference that James Reston himself would have appreciated.

Young aides boast about how social networking helped President Barack Obama first win the presidency and now promotes his message outside the filter of mainstream journalism. The president grants interviews to Hispanic journalists on Univision and calls on reporters from newcomers like Huffington Post (and POLITICO) at news conferences.

But for all its new media airs, the new White House team remains in the thrall of perhaps the most emblematic old media institution of all.

Senior Obama officials during the transition posed for Times Sunday Magazine portraits and then opened the doors again with top-level access for another major magazine piece this month on health care. Midlevel officials cooperate for Times profiles detailing their key behind-the-scenes roles.

Even routine news stories buried deep inside the A-section of the Times often quote high-level sources speaking both on and off the record.

Quite obviously, Obama is cultivating favorable coverage in the Times as well. Surely the unspoken message is that this easy access is dependent upon favorable treatment by the Times - not that the Times needs any encouragement to carry Obama's water.