ABC correspondent Ann Compton spoke during a videoconference about the trials of being a member of the White House Press Corps and the face of changing media.

Tuesday, Compton took a break from her busy schedule to speak with C-SPAN’s Steve Scully and students from the University of Denver and George Mason University.  Compton told the students that since the Press Corps room is being renovated, the press is isolated from the president.

Although she said that President Bush does often answer questions from the Oval office or around the White House, the press is severely limited with seeing the president.

“We have less access to the president,” Compton said.  “A lot has to do with the press being so defensive about Iraq.”

This may explain why, she said, Pres. Bush does not hold nearly as many big press conferences as his predecessors.

“The press tends to have other agendas in those conferences,” Compton said. “But it’s not about the personalities that are there.  It’s about getting the information that the citizens would ask.”

President Bush is the third president whom Compton has covered who served two terms.  The others include former President Ronald Reagan and former President Bill Clinton.  The terms, Compton said, all follow the same pattern.

“Within the first term, the president has lots of information and lots of initiatives to get out to the press so there is always something to write about,” she said.  “The second term, however, the president becomes more defensive of the press and often times there are scandals.”

Compton continued: “With Reagan, there was the Iran-Contra scandal; Clinton had Monica Lewinski, and Pres. Bush is under fire for his Iraq War defensive.”

As the coverage of the president continues, Compton described the new way of television reporting.  Compton said the clips of the briefings and speeches are shorter and punchier, trying to get the most effect out of the smallest clip.

“With these 24 hour news programs, the news is visually and audibly more interesting,” she said.

She stressed the power of the well-written word, saying it has become hard to write both short and strong, especially with the onslaught of information from the Internet and blogs.

“We’re coming into an era where you don’t really know where this Internet trend is going,” Compton said.  “Anything I knew about the Internet 10 minutes ago is probably already out of date.”

Advising students to seek out the news from several different sources, Compton said she believes that blogs and the Internet still are not the front runners for new.

Terry Reardon, a George Mason University student who attended the videoconference, was surprised at Compton’s remarks.

“Many other journalists have told us they are looking to blogs for breaking stories,” Reardon said.  “But Compton said these bloggers are second to the mainstream and they have to wait until the mainstream is done with a story to get any correct information.”

Compton said she is excited about blogs and the Internet becoming a larger part of news outlets.  However, she said they will not become the only source.

“I won't say YouTube and the Drudge Report and blogs will become more important, but rather a catalyst or breeding grounds for issues and news,” Compton said.