Saturday, March 7, 2009

BREAKING NEWS: Obama Tells NYT, "I Like The Feel Of A Newspaper."

With only 35 minutes at its disposal for an exclusive interview with President Obama on Friday, the NYT still managed to squeeze in a question for the commander-in-chief about itself.

With our country facing its worst economic crisis in 80 years, it seems as though there might have been a better use of a newspaper reporter's time than asking the President how he consumes the work of newspaper reporters, and whether he reads websites.

But nevertheless, the interchange is interesting and revelatory, and didn't make it into the interview account posted on the NYT's website this afternoon, only in the posted transcript. So for NYT junkies everywhere, we'll reprint the part of the interview (it took place on Air Force One on Friday) that includes the NYT's questions to Obama about his media consumption habits:

Q: Sir, we’re landing here, but what are you reading these days? What kind of newspapers do you read, do you read the clips, do you read actual papers, do you watch television?

A: Other than The New York Times?

Q: Other than The New York Times. Do you read Web sites? What Web sites do you look at?

A: I read most of the big national papers.

Q. Do you read them in clips or do you read them in the paper?

A. No, I read the paper. I like the feel of a newspaper. I read most of the weekly newsmagazines. I may not read them from cover to cover but I’ll thumb through them. You know, I spend most of my time these days reading a lot of briefings.

Q: And television? Do you watch? Web sites?

A: I don’t watch much television, I confess.

Q: And Web sites?

Q: No blogs?

A: I rarely read blogs.

Q: No reality shows with your girls?

A: No. They watch them, but I don’t join them. I watch basketball. That’s what I watch.

No blogs! Sorry, Bagger.

It's nice to know the President has come out in favor of print. It's not quite a promise of a newspaper bailout program, but it's good to know we're not the only ones who like the smell of newsprint in the morning.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Asking the president if he watches reality TV is a real low point for the New York Times.

Dave Barnes said...

Well, POTUS44 is old.
I mean, he was born in the 1960s. Are there any people who were born before then?
Of course he likes paper. He is old.

Anonymous said...

Remember, Obama is getting a dog. They love the feel of newspapers, too.