I don't know quite what to make of the whole uproar over Froomkin's WaPo blog/column. The arguments forwarded (the title 'White House Briefing' is confusing...) seem to me spurrious at best. It's a column, refering to other news articles and columnists, not news. It's on the website, not in the paper, and it's not affiliated with 'news' organization. If the White House is confused by the title, perhaps they should be removed, not Froomkin.
The later arguments made, once it was obvious that the opinion of their readers was against them, by Downie and Harris do seem more like access-protection than serious journalistic issues. They don't want the WH pissed at them or they might lose access. It's worth remembering that Woodward and Bernstein (at least, the early Woodward) had no access and broke the biggest story of the 20th Century, so that might be a net plus.
If you're confused, or just fascinated, Talking Points, Atrios, firedoglake, Brad de Long, and Politcal Animal all have a lot of coverage and many interesting snippets, quotes, details, and thoughts of the flap. All are listed in the 'Links' or 'Blogs N'Stuff' sections in the sidebar.
The upshot is that it looks like nothing will happen other than Dan getting new readers and everyone else looking like idiots. So, it's been win/win!
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