Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Obama Brings Ethnic Media Into Loop

Latino, black outlets see better access to White House

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 9, 2009 10:59 AM CDT

(Newser) – From phoning Hispanic radio hosts to appearing on Telemundo, President Obama has shown a willingness to connect with the Latino community many feel his predecessor lacked. And while Obama’s first print interview as president was with Black Enterprise magazine, the White House and ethnic media outlets are approaching this new spirit of inclusion cautiously, writes Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post.

Obama has been careful not to send different messages when speaking with the minority news organizations he’s given increased access—during the campaign, after all, he downplayed the concept of himself as a minority candidate. And the outlets themselves are treading carefully: Although many openly supported Obama’s election, they aren’t after the role of “cheerleader.”

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

Telemundo anchor Pedro Sevcec interviewed President Obama last month, asking him about creation of jobs and immigration reform. He says his network is on "very good terms" with the White House. (Getty Images)

Black Enterprise, in this November 2008 issue and many others, openly supported Barack Obama's candidacy. Now, it is making an effort to hold him to his promises. (Business Wire)

President Barack Obama, followed by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, left, approaches the media on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

A lot of my counterparts in the media who are Caucasian are rich, and they're not in the streets. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity are multimillionaires. I'm a former union worker. - Warren Ballentine, an African-American radio host who has interviewed Obama

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

US Drones Return to Hit Rescuers, Funerals

Strikes occurring every 4 days under Obama: report

(NEWSER) - A few days back, President Obama said that US drone attacks in Pakistan had "not caused a huge number of civilian casualties." But a Bureau of Investigative Journalism report finds that somewhere between 282 and 535 civilians, including 60 children, have been "credibly reported" killed in the campaign. Secondary strikes target groups of rescuers shortly after attacks, while other drones have killed dozens at funerals. Obama has drastically escalated the drone program; some 260 strikes have occurred an average of once every four days under his administration. More»

Geithner: Obama Won't Ask Me to Stay

Treasury secretary says he's done after election

(NEWSER) - Tim Geithner is pretty sure he's going to be joining the ranks of the jobless after the election: The Treasury secretary—the longest serving member of President Obama's economic team—tells Bloomberg that Obama is "not going to ask me to stay on, I’m pretty confident. I’m confident he’ll be president. But I’m also confident he’s going to have the privilege of having another secretary of the Treasury." The White House announced in August that Geithner would stay put through the election, amid Beltway rumblings that he would step down. More»

Obama Losing Super PAC War

...because he's not terribly interested in fighting it

(NEWSER) - Democrats saw the way Mitt Romney's super PAC destroyed Newt Gingrich in Iowa, and it terrified them, because President Obama's super PAC—or as Politico terms it, "not-so-super PAC"—doesn't have the muscle for anything like that. "It's like when China got the bomb," says one Democrat close to the PAC, "We thought we were the ones with cash supremacy. That's clearly not the case." Obama's Priorities USA Action has just $5 million in the bank, less than half Romney's $12 million. More»

Did White House Hide Lavish Costume Bash?

Nope, says spokesman: event reports, pics are online

(NEWSER) - At the nadir of the economic crisis, the Obama White House held a lavish Alice in Wonderland-themed Halloween costume party, organized by Johnny Depp and Tim Burton and full of Star Wars character. But with unemployment at 10%, the Tea Party at its apex, and the economic downturn still rocking the country, officials feared the 2009 party would look terribly decadent, so kept it a secret, reports the New York Post . “White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans—or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care—that the event was not discussed publicly, and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged,” alleges Jodi Kantor in her new book, The Obamas . More»

Under Obama, a Force of Killer Drones Evolved

Semi-secret assassination program has expanded greatly in his term

(NEWSER) - In the five years before President Obama took office, America’s drones launched 44 strikes, all confined to Pakistan, killing about 400 people. But during his Oval Office tenure there have been almost 240 strikes, killing at least four times as many people, and the US has built dozens of secret drone facilities, with bases in at least six countries, the Washington Post reports, in an in-depth look into what it terms Obama’s “emerging global apparatus for drone killing.” Though the technology was already developing under President George W Bush, Obama has greatly expanded its use. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Obama Brings Ethnic Media Into Loop