Garrett Graff filed his first report from inside the White House after Scott McClellan, President Bush's spokeman, conducted his initial morning briefing. The occasion marked another breakthrough for bloggers, the writers of weblogs, who are increasingly making their mark as an influential arm of the news media.

Mr Graff received his pass as editor of FishbowIDC, a blog published by Mediabistro.com, a networking service for journalists, having spent nearly a week fruitlessly trying to gain access to the Brady briefing room, named after James Brady, Ronald Reagan's press secretary, who was crippled when John Hinckley tried to assassinate the President in 1981. But the White House press corps urged Mr McClellan tolet Mr Graff in and he received a prized day press pass. The decision to open the door to blogger comes after the recent brush with controversay over Jeff Gannon, a reporter for a republican webswite who used a false name and asked highly sympathetic questions of Me Bush. The reporter has not been see in the White House since his sideline in X rated websites was revealed.

Online commentators are growing in number and prominence. Bloggers revealed that the documents in an election smear story about President Bush's National Guard service were fake. Several CBS producers lost their jobs as a result.

Facts about bolgs:

. Weblogs (blog) are websites where users can post entries on any
subject
. The term was coined by Jorn Barger in 1997
. In 2002 US Senator Trent Lott resigned after bloggers accused him
of racism
. Politicians Howard Dean and Wesley Clark kept bolgs as campaigning
tools
. Several blogs have been published as books, such as those by the
Baghdad bolgger Salam Pax and the prostitute Belle de Jour.

White House or not learning how2bolg whether for fun, fame or profit is gathering monuntum.

The Times
Tuesday Mearch 8 2005