The May-June edition of Politico magazine is out, complete with what it boasts is "the most comprehensive survey yet of [the] unique group of journalists" who comprise the White House press corps. The picture painted by the honest answers therein are not altogether flattering. For instance, we see just how much a self-congratulatory, conventional wisdom-spewing echo-chamber the group is with these two questions (see screen captures below the fold):
and
"Given what you know now, who do you think will be the next president?"
The most popular answer to the latter: Hillary Clinton by a commanding margin of 58 percent. The number-two answer? Twenty-five percent answering "who knows?"
But it was moderately-conservative establishment types like Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) who came in with 6 and 4 percents respectively. Bush and Christie, of course, are the sort of Republicans the liberal media are lecturing the GOP as the only hope to defeat the Hillary juggernaut.
On the fairness-of-coverage question, the press corps gave themselves a huge pat on the back, with 68% percent saying the media have treated Obama to fair coverage. Just 7 percent say he's gotten worse coverage than he deserves.
Another fascinating finding was that just 5 percent of White House correspondents believe the Obama White House has been "more forthcoming with information" than the George W. Bush White House. In a similar question, 53 percent scoffed "Are you kidding me?" in reply to the question, "How often in the last week did you interview White House officials who do not work in the communications or press offices?"
One last note, when asked about how much they get paid, 51 percent of correspondent "prefer not to say," while an astonishing 3 percent earn more than $300,000 per year. One-quarter of the respondents earn six-digit salaries and 18 percent earn between $50-100,000. The latest median HOUSEHOLD income in the United States, by comparison, is $51,107.
As much as liberal White House reporters may dutifully push the Obama administration's squawking about income inequality, the scribes in the Brady briefing room are hardly hurting for cash.
You can review the results of the survey here.
