The Army of Davids meme

Torie Clarke, whom many of us know from her days as the Pentagon Commmunications chief, has written a book. It's called Lipstick on a Pig : Winning In the No-Spin Era by Someone Who Knows the Game. She obvious recognizes Glenn Reynolds' point in his book that the press and those who deal with it can no longer count on in because of the internet and bloggers.

I don't get free books like some bloggers, but if I were in PR, I'd want to read it. She's being interviewed by Pamela Hess on BookTV and the program is available as a Podcast. She reminds me of Virginia Postrel, in that she's smart, good looking and a great communicator. I don't know her politics, and I can't tell them from this interview. Very professional.

The interviewer, who's a member of the Pentagon press corps, noted that embedded journalists have been criticized for sounding too much like a cheerleader. Clarke noted that such accusations come from people in the media who never complain about liberal bias. True. These people think that objectivity only means including liberal spin, not what most of us understand the term. Hess noted that Don Rumsfeld has been giving interviews to small local TV and radio stations and that the interviewers are too friendly to him and critical of the Pentagon reporters. Clarke said that that reflects a Washington bias. Another reason I like her. I see nothing to be ashamed of in representing your local audience. From out here in the boondocks, the behavior of the big town media is an issue worth discussing.