Covering new presidents: the media's double standard

Eric Boehlert, who did fine reporting for Salon.com for many years has an excellent new piece over at Media Matters. Picking up on the emerging conventional wisdom about press relations with new administrations, he offers a well-grounded reminder of those relations with the previous two presidents. It's a cautionary tale of shifting standards, well worth reading as a reminder of recent history:

In anticipation of the new administration, Beltway media insiders are busy laying the groundwork for how reporters and pundits will treat the new team on Pennsylvania Avenue.

'Once a president takes office ... an adversarial relationship usually flourishes, at least with beat reporters,' wrote Howard Kurtz in The Washington Post. And former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, discussing the press corps on Fox News, agreed: 'They are inevitably going to turn on him, as all -- this happened to every administration. I don't see why we should be surprised. It is the natural turn of events.'

The conventional wisdom is quite clear: The press always turns skeptical and becomes combative when new presidents come to town.

Except, of course, when the press does not.