Associated Press Ripped For Coverage Of White House Dog ‘Doo’ Incident: ‘A Dog Taking A Sh*t On The Carpet Is Not News’

Tommy ChristopherApr 1st, 2021, 8:29 am
 

Official White House photo

Media critics found the perfect metaphor Wednesday when reporters began filing updates on a specimen of alleged dog excrement that was spotted on a floor at the White House.

On a day that began with a major cable news host joking for several consecutive minutes about euthanizing one of the First Dogs, Major Biden and his brother Champ Biden suffered another very public indignity when Daily Mail Senior U.S. Political Reporter Emily Goodin filed this report for First Lady Jill Biden’s press pool:

As pool gathered to load in the vans on the South Lawn driveway, Champ and Major were spotted in the hallway outside the Palm Room doors in front of the Diplomatic Room. There was dog poo on the floor. It’s unclear which dog was responsible for it.

Champ and Major were on the South Lawn as motorcade waited to depart. Major was on a leash. Champ was not but was moving slowly and stiffly.

A variety of White House reporters spread the word via Twitter, some of whom had jokes.

A few were at least mildly displeased with the attention, including former unofficial Dean of the White House Press Corps Mark Knoller.

But The Associated Press elevated the story with a full wire service report on the incident entitled “Ruh roh! Biden pooch drops doggie doo in White House hallway,” and which noted, “It was unclear which pooch — Major or Champ — dropped the poo.”

Some political media figures, journalists, and others were amused, while others were most unkind in their assessments of this literal dogshit coverage.

And then there was this guy…

The demarcation line appears to be between the lighthearted reactions to a tweet about the incident, and heavy criticism of a serious and respected news wire service. This appears to get it about right. As a White House reporter for nine years, I can attest that had I encountered dog crap in the halls of the White House, I would have tweeted about it (and gotten a picture, too) but would not have thought to pitch it to my editors as news. Unless it was during the Trump administration, because they didn’t have a dog.

On the other hand, at least there was no mention of killing either of the dogs, which qualifies as good press for Major these days.

Tags: