The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

NOTE: The excerpt below is from the Jan. 23 BOTW archives.

‘We Try Very Hard’
Relations between the Obama administration and the media are already getting peevish, the Associated Press reports, with the AP and other wire services having “refused to distribute photos taken by the White House of the new president on his first day in the Oval Office” because they’re annoyed that the White House didn’t let their photographers cover the president’s second swearing-in.

Then there’s this brave stance from the guardians of the public interest:

The Associated Press also questioned on Thursday why reporters were not allowed to use the names of administration officials giving a background briefing on issues regarding the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

Background briefings are hardly new in Washington, and were frequently conducted during the Bush and Clinton administrations. But the AP wanted to establish early with the administration that it’s important to get information on the record as often as possible, said Michael Oreskes, managing editor for U.S. news.

“Information is a lot more valuable to the public if you know where it’s coming from,” Oreskes said. “So we try very hard in all source situations to identify sources as fully as we can.”

Here are some other AP stories today:

  • Islamabad, Pakistan: “Missiles fired from a suspected U.S. spy plane killed seven people Friday on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border, a lawless region where al-Qaida militants are known to hide out, officials said. . . . One drone fired three missiles into the village of Zharki in North Waziristan, hitting two buildings, the intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.”
  • Washington: “In a long-expected move, President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option, officials told The Associated Press on Friday. . . . The Democratic official and senior U.S. official who disclosed the plans did so on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to pre-empt Obama’s announcement.
  • Washington: “Democratic Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand emerged as a leading contender Thursday night as New York Gov. David Paterson closed in on a decision to fill the state’s vacant Senate seat, according to party officials monitoring events in the wake of Caroline Kennedy’s abrupt withdrawal from consideration. . . . The officials who described the events did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss them.”

Sources told Best of the Web Today that the AP’s routine uses of anonymous sources make a mockery of Oreskes’s claim that “we try very hard in all source situations to identify sources as fully as we can.” The sources spoke on condition of anonymity so as to mock Oreskes even further.

For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”