Sorry, pubcasters, NPR has lost the Great White House Briefing Room Front-Center Chair Scramble of 2010. To review: Legendary newswoman Helen Thomas resigned on June 7. NPR applied for the much-coveted chair. Two progressive online groups began petitions to persuade the White House Correspondents Association to give the chair to NPR. Then NPR denied knowing anything about the petitions. And now, finally, the decision: The Associated Press gets Thomas’s chair, Fox News moves to fill AP’s old front-row seat, and NPR takes Fox’s second-row seat. That’s next to Bloomberg, for anyone still erasing and updating their seating chart.
And for those of you who cannot fathom that this is all over, who are still yearning for more details, here is — and we are not joking — a 1,000-word analysis of how it happened from the Columbia Journalism Review. Enjoy.