Gaggle is a daily comic strip about the Washington press corps and Larry the press secretary. Larry deals with the shenanigans of reporters who couldn't imagine anyone voting for a Republican.

There will be a new Gaggle strip, fully colored, every weekday.

Click here for previous strips.

Washington Post Staff Writer Dan Balz can hardly seem to contain himself while writing a post-Hurricane Katrina analysis that covers everything from President Bush's sagging poll numbers, to "the fabric of an already divided society." As mentioned today by Newsbusters own Clay Waters, the mainstream media--like the N Y Times--are offering up these "news analysis" stories without any real analysis aside from essentially blaming Bush.

Balz, though, seems to revel in his analysis, engaging in a bit of shadenfruede. Balz starts this way: "The main text of President Bush's nationally televised address last night was the rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, but the clear subtext was the rebuilding of a presidency that is now at its lowest point ever, confronted by huge and simultaneous challenges at home and abroad -- and facing a country divided along partisan and racial lines."

Ouch! MediaBistro's blog TVNewser (or Brian Stelter) drew a Fox News executive into responding to Tina Brown's rant in yesterday's Washington Post about how Rupert Murdoch needs to shift Fox News "to the center" for the sake of ratings with the following:

"Tina Brown discussing ratings is like Courtney Love dispensing advice on how to stay sober -- neither one knows how to achieve it."

Brown's show scratched 52 times out of 66 episodes [came with below an 0.1 Nielsen rating] during her 15-month run of "Topic A with Tina Brown" on CNBC.

The L.A. Times has a story up about a new "documentary-style film" about liberal CBS newsman Fred Friendly which features George Clooney in the leading role:

The black-and-white documentary-style film, which Clooney co-wrote, produced, directed and in which he plays "See It Now" producer Fred
Friendly, won best screenplay for Clooney and Grant Heslov and best actor honors for David Strathairn this month at the Venice Film Festival and will open the New York Film Festival on Friday. It will be released in the U.S. on Oct. 7.

Normally, the small, $8-million "Good Night, and Good Luck" would be the sort of politically relevant film that comes and goes and makes a paltry $500,000, Clooney said recently. But by coincidence, the film has hit at a moment when its main point — journalists need courage to combat both government officials who try to intimidate them and corporate bosses who want them to entertain viewers — is sparking in real life.

In other words, it's a movie about how reporters need to do better at standing up to Republicans.

Editor and Publisher reports that First Lady Laura Bush has complained about the media coverage of the recovery efforts after Katrina.

"Top Republicans have long charged that the press focuses on the bad news from Iraq, ignoring positive stories. Now one leading Republican -- the First Lady -- has made the same complaint about media coverage of the hurricane catastrophe in the Gulf. "

Says Bush:

"We've seen terrible, terrible things and we've seen unbelievably unselfish acts of giving as well by communities all across the United States and, of course, many more unselfish acts of giving than bad things," she said in the speech.

"Maybe the media hasn't shown us that much, but we've read about it and we do know about it."

At a meeting with investors yesterday, CBS president Les Moonves addressed a number of topics including the failed makeover of the "CBS Evening News." MediaWeek has the skinny:

When asked about the progress of the revamp of the low-rated "CBS Evening News" prompted by the departure of longtime anchor Dan Rather in March, Moonves conceded CBS News isn't close to the radical makeover he has envisioned to boost the fortunes of the show. Moonves said he was frustrated, saying that the average age of the news viewer -- on all three evening newscasts -- was about 60. He said CBS was trying to change it and make it more "user-friendly."

"We haven't come up with a great solution, so we've sent them back to the drawing board," Moonves said. "But you will see changes in the next several months."