Garrett Graff, the editor of FishbowlDC, a blog on the Media Bistro website, became the first online diarist to be granted a pass to a White House press briefing.

Graff spent a week trying to obtain entry before the White House Press Office persuaded Bush’s spokesman Scott McClellan to grant him a day press pass.

Graff filed his first report yesterday from the Brady briefing room, following McCellan’s initial morning briefing, a camera-free session referred to as ‘the gaggle’ where the topics covered included an official visit by the King and Queen and Norway, and Mrs Bush’s trip to Pittsburgh. Graff was also able to attend the main press briefing later in the day where McCellan answered questions on Lebanon and the war on terror.

His report gave a balanced acount of daily media activities in the West Wing, touching on the tedium and the sardonic banter between experienced White House correspondants, as well as the official press activities. Graff wasn’t impressed with the conditions in the press briefing room calling it “dilapidated” and “dreary.”

The White House’s decision to grant him entry recognises the growing influence of online commentators.