Does it Matter if Most of the White House Reporters are White?

THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN to become president of the United States takes office this week.

When President Barack Obama holds his first official press conference, most of the faces staring back at him will not be black.

Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz says that "the relative paucity of black journalists at the White House is striking."

Which raises the question: should there be greater diversity in the White House press corps because there is an African-American president?

"Imagine you're president, at the lectern, looking out at those faces," says White House correspondent April Ryan of the American Urban Radio Networks, "is this a representation of America?"

Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe responded by writing, "With so many other things to worry about, and with the whole world able to see that racial identity is no longer a barrier to even the most powerful position in American life, you might think the press would finally be ready to abandon its unhealthy preoccupation with the color of skin - especially the skin within its own ranks. Alas, no."

What do you think?

(The image above is from the White House Correspondents' Association. It portrays the press who covered the Truman administration of the 1950's.)