May 3, 1996

Dear Senator Warner [et al]

     I am writing to you on behalf of Vigdor Schreibman, a Washington, DC
reporter and the publisher of the Federal Information News Syndicate (FINS).
Mr. Schreibman's recent application for membership in the Periodical Press
Gallery was turned down by the Executive Committee of Correspondents even
though he has been a member in good standing since 1993.

     By my understanding of the rules established by the Senate and the House
for the operation of the press galleries, Mr. Schreibman clearly qualifies
for admission. The intention of those rules, as you know, is to weed out
lobbyists who are masquerading as "journalists." Mr. Schreibman is clearly
not in that situation. He is a serious reporter, providing bona-fide news
reports to an attentive audience. 

     The main difference between Mr. Schreibman and the countless other
journalists who enjoy accreditation is that he is providing this service not
through established print or broadcast means but instead through the
Internet. This means that the financial base of his news service is different
from that of most publications. But the truth is that no one has yet figured
out how to charge for services delivered over the Internet. The strange
funding of Mr. Schreibman's news service says more about the rapidly-evolving
nature of on-line technology than it does about his sincerity as a
journalist. It is unjust to exclude a reporter simply because the medium
through which he serves his audience is more modern -- and therefore less
fully-developed in its business fundamentals -- that the media other
reporters use. 

     The interests of elementary fairness lie on Mr. Schreibman's side of
this dispute. I hope you will use your influence to ask the Executive
Committee of Correspondents to approve his application for admission to the
Periodical Press Gallery.

                         Sincerely,

                         (s) James Fallows


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Distribution:

Senator John W. Warner, Chair
Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
305 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Senator Wendell Ford
Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
305 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Speaker Newt Gingrich
U.S. House of Representatives
The Capitol
H-326 
Washington, DC 20515

Representative Richard A. Gephardt
U.S. House of Representatives
1226 LHOB  
Washington, DC 20515