Dear Mainstream Media: Obama's new phone might not be a BlackBerry, might not be a phone, and he might not be getting it

This morning we've been barraged with tips alerting us to the news that President Obama has won his struggle to keep his (apparently deeply loved) BlackBerry -- a device which has historically been verboten in the White House due to security concerns. Unfortunately for the mainstream media outlets, a little conflation here and a little lack of fact-checking there does not a BlackBerry make. Just about everyone -- straight up to CNN and the AP -- are sourcing a post by Marc Ambinder in the Atlantic stating that Obama is "going to get his blackberry [sic]," though the actual news may be far different. Ambinder seems to be conflating two stories which he doesn't source at all, one saying that the NSA will jack-up Obama's BlackBerry with some kind of "super-encryption package," and the other stating that the President will get a Sectera Edge -- an NSA approved (but not issued) device we reported he might be getting last week. Here's the news in the exact (confusing) wording Ambinder uses:

On Monday, a government agency that the Obama administration -- but that is probably the National Security Agency -- added to a standard blackberry a super-encryption package.... and Obama WILL be able to use it ... still for routine and personal messages.

With few exceptions, government Blackberries aren't designed for encryption that protects messages above the "SECRET" status, so it's not clear whether Obama is getting something new and special. The exception: the Sectera Edge from General Dynamics, which allows for TOP SECRET voice conversations.

The problem is that Ambinder (and the mainstream media) doesn't seem to know the difference between some NSA smartphone and an actual RIM BlackBerry... and there's a big difference. Of course, we won't tell MSM (or even solo bloggers) how to do their job, but we think there's some serious air-clearing called for here. We have yet to hear official word on what, if any, device Obama will be using in the White House, and recombining two separate pieces of information that may not be related (or fully understood) seems lazy at best, and dangerous at worst.

Read - Obama Will Get His Blackberry
Read - Obama 'to get spy-proof smartphone'
Read - No decision on whether Obama will keep BlackBerry
Read - Obama thinks he can keep his BlackBerry

[Steve2000 Posted Jan 22nd 2009 10:22PM]

It is a Blackberry; his press secretary said so. I think he'd know more than some blogger.

[BoBoTheChimp Posted Jan 23rd 2009 11:13AM]

WHO CARES!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 24th 2009 12:37AM]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Oh, oops!

It should be a relatively easy problem to solve. All President Obama has to do is make a new law under which "The President" is exempt from any laws governing the rest of the people if it suits him to do so. Or, to allow him to carry any type of phone or communication device that he sees fit to.

It's not Rocket Science people. How more mundane can you get, reading this stuff instead of what is going on in Afghanistan or Africa, or how the people affected by drought/fire/floods are going etc? Geez, life must be pretty boring for the news hounds if this is the type of reporting they are going for nowadays.