While the New York Times awaits a postelection sit-down with President Obama, Ebony magazine already nabbed its interview, the first given when Obama was still the president-elect.
Once Obama was sworn in, he granted one of his first Q&A's to the editor of Black Enterprise magazine. His first known radio interview went to host El Pistolero, followed last week by a friendly phone-in to another giant of Spanish-language radio, Los Angeles-based Piolin.
It may not qualify as a pattern, much less a new world order, but the nation's first African American president has signaled that he may shake up the traditional protocols of Washington journalism.
But Obama's forays into sometimes marginalized ethnic media outlets also renew a strategy dating to the Reagan administration and earlier -- finding alternatives to reach around the mainstream media and speak to loyal constituents.
I suspect these niche operators will also be used by the Obama administration -- maybe something like President George W. Bush used evangelical Christian radio -- because the White House believes they are more likely to funnel the chief executive's message with little scrutiny or criticism.
Although much of their coverage thus far has celebrated Obama's history-making ascension to the White House, several reporters from the ethnic media assured me they would not be pushovers.
I agreed that was a standard that they, and we in the mainstream media, needed to adhere to if we want to maintain our credibility.
"It was important in our coverage to pay attention to a milestone moment," said Derek T. Dingle, editor in chief of Black Enterprise. "But going forward, we need the same vigilance and critical eye as we had with the Clinton administration and the Bush administration."
That's especially tough for outlets less experienced in the capital, with fewer reporters and whose audiences, surveys show, overwhelmingly approve of Obama.
Pamela Gentry, who blogs about politics for BET.com, said those factors would not prevent her from asking pointed questions. When I spoke to her last week, she laid down a marker for Obama.
"As of yesterday, with the signing of the stimulus bill, this economic problem is now his," Gentry said. "And we will have to look closely at how things go with his solution."
That's the goal for many reporters, but expect Obama to follow a well-worn path to the infotainment zone -- radio and television outlets that take a much lighter look at the issues of the day.
