Media The Truth About Covering Obama The presidential press corps dishes on what it’s really like to report inside the White House.

The White House might be the seat of American and world power, but for the press, it can be a bugaboo of a beat: “All hype and spin.” “Restrictive in every sense of the word.” “Cramped and windowless.” “Locked.” That’s how just four reporters described the job in Politico Magazine’s second annual survey of the White House press corps, with nearly 70 journalists weighing in on what it’s really like to on the presidential beat. How often do they get to talk to President Obama? Who are the most reporter-friendly White House aides? What are the most over- and underhyped stories of the Obama administration? Which president has been most open to the press? We asked White House reporters to answer these questions and more, and here’s what they had to say about covering the president. (Hint: They don’t actually see much of the guy.)

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Participants (69): Takaaki Abe/Nippon Television, Jim Acosta/CNN, Yasmeen Alamiri/Al Arabiya, Peter Baker/New York Times, Andrew Beatty/AFP, Cheryl Bolen/Bloomberg BNA, Christy Bowe/ImageCatcherNews, David Boyer/Washington Times, Dennis Brack/Black Star Publishing Co., Paul Brandus/West Wing Reports, Carl M. Cannon/RealClearPolitics, Ching-Yi Chang/Shanghai Media Group, George Condon/National Journal, David Corn/Mother Jones, Bob Costantini/Westwood One, Philip Crowther/France 24, Patty Culhane/Al Jazeera, Edward-Isaac Dovere/Politico, Justin Duckham/Talk Radio News Service, Juliet Eilperin/Washington Post, Major Garrett/CBS, Todd Gillman/Dallas Morning News, Chris Good/ABC, Angela Greiling Keane/Bloomberg, Brian Haefeli/Freelance, Laura Haim/Canal+, Kathleen Hennessey/Tribune, Steve Holland/Reuters, Scott Horsley/NPR, Louis Jacobson/PolitiFact, David Jackson/USA Today, Lesa Jansen/Fox, Chris Jansing/NBC, Lalit K Jha/Press Trust of India, Chris Johnson/Washington Blade, Jonathan Karl/ABC, Tamara Keith/NPR, Mark Knoller/CBS, Olivier Knox/Yahoo, Keith Koffler/White House Dossier, Gregory Korte/USA Today, Michelle Kosinski/CNN, Anita Kumar/McClatchy, Connie Lawn/Audio Video News, Josh Lederman/Associated Press, Kang Duk Lee/Korean Broadcasting System, Fred Lucas/TheBlaze, Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press, Greg Mathieson/MAI Photo News Agency, Tara McKelvey/BBC, Evan McMorris-Santoro/BuzzFeed, Zeke Miller/Time, Julie Pace/Associated Press, Christi Parsons/Tribune, Bill Press/Westwood One, Ellen Ratner/Talk Radio News Service, James Rosen/Fox, Stan de Saint Hippolyte/France 24, Steven Scully/C-SPAN, Andrei Sitov/ITAR-TASS, Mark S. Smith/Associated Press, Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, Byron Tau/Wall Street Journal, Steve Thomma/McClatchy, Anne Walters/Deutsche Presse-Agentur, James Warren/New York Daily News, Michael Wilner/Jerusalem Post, Mike Viqueira/Al Jazeera, Matt Viser/Boston Globe.

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(Graphics by 5W Infographics; Survey photos: AP; Getty Images; Pete Souza/White House; iStock)