"Beat the press does the White House have a Blacklist: by Nicholas Confessore .2002

Since day one, even before ex- President George w. Bush was sworn in as president. His aide Karl Rove had distaste for one of Washington Posts White House Correspondents Dana Milbank. He even asked the Washington Post to reconsider their decision of making him one of their own.

“The Post declined”.

Dana Milbank is Bush administrations least favorite journalist. He covered a lot of storied that questioned Bush’s work which lead to making Bush’s life and presidency difficult. The stories he covered included Bush’s decision to abandon school vouchers and his administration’s plan to exempt the Salvation Army from state and local anti discrimination laws (just to name a few). That last plan brought major embarrassment to Bush’s aide Karl Rove because he played a central part in that discussion.

This article showed how the Bush administration (as well as any other administration) manages the press. The press is more cooperative and nice to journalists who make them “look good”, like Washington Post’s very own Bob Woodward’s work. Milbank on the other hand gets the bad end of that stick.

Does the White house have a black list?
Its safe to say that the White House may not have a physical one “Blacklist” but based on the Dana Milbank there is definitely a unwritten one.