I attended at the White House yesterday an event billed as a “black web summit.” Along with 20 others from outlets like Jack & Jill politics and The Grio, The Root was present for what could best be described as a meeting seeking to foster dialogue between the Obama administration and African American online media professionals. Everything of real substance that was said was off the record, and thus mostly unfit for blogging. And what I will say I’ve already told to Richard Prince for his Journal-isms column, which I’ve excerpted here. (And, yes, we really met Obama):
"Everything that was said was either on background or totally off the record, so I can't reveal as much as I'd like," Cord Jefferson, a writer with theRoot.com, told Journal-isms, "but I think it was quite productive. In my estimation, any time the media sits down and talks with an administration — as long as neither side is guaranteeing anything to the other — is time well spent.
"I'll also say that just bringing together black web outlets to the White House, just sitting them down and saying, 'We respect your mission,' is a huge step. We met President Obama today. It's difficult to imagine a black web summit even taking place in the Bush White House, let alone a black web summit that would have seen President Bush stop by. It's not like we saw any major reforms take place in that room today, but we did see progress."
-Cord Jefferson is a staff writer at The Root. Follow him on Twitter.