BusinessReport.com

So it seems many of my statewide media brethren whose lot in life is to chronicle the antics of our governor have their digital recorders in a wad because Bobby Jindal won’t take their phone calls.

From what I’ve read, unless your press pass says New York Times, Wall Street Journal or The Tonight Show, landing an interview with the governor is tougher than me scoring a date with Elizabeth Hurley.

[If it makes the capitol press corps feel any better, Ms. Hurley doesn’t return my calls, e-mails or text messages either.]

Based on all the “Jindal did not respond to repeated requests for comment” that I regularly read in papers across the state, I am left to conclude that never in our nation’s history has a man who can speak so fast said so little. Marcel Marceau is quoted more.

Which has prompted a handful in the media to go public with their frustrations. Mark Ballard, of The Advocate, has twice slammed Jindal in his Sunday column. Jeremy Alford, a freelance writer who appears in this publication and others, took the administration to task in a cover story for The [Lafayette] Independent headlined “Stonewall Jindal.”

Equally difficult to play ball with, according to Ballard, Alford, LSU’s Daily Reveille and others, is Jindal’s press secretary, Melissa Sellers, who they claim learned her trade at the Karl Rove School.

Here’s your toss-up question: What will come first? Ballard, the most prominent of Jindal’s critics, landing a 30-minute one-on-one with the governor, or downtown getting an actual entertainment district?

This much, to me, is certain: 1) these reporters have never worked in sports, 2) Jindal is running his administration like he ran his landslide gubernatorial campaign, and 3) the public, based on Jindal’s astronomical approval rating, could not give a damn.

Ask those who covered Bill Arnsparger, Curley Hallman or Nick Saban how easy those former LSU football coaches were to deal with. Yet why was Hallman the only one blasted by the fans and LSU administration over his prickly relationship with the media?

Could it be that Arnsparger and Saban won championships, while Hallman won squadoosh?

No one cares that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is a jerk with the media. Why? Because this otherwise engaging and witty guy wins—and wins big.

[Here’s another news flash courtesy of the sports world: The national media always get more access and better quotes than local writers.]

Unlike football coaches, Jindal is an elected official who has a responsibility to communicate with the public and the voters who put him in office. But Team Jindal’s position—and I’m spitballing here—seems to be this: Who says that communication has to happen through the traditional media?

Clearly, Jindal’s handlers have decided to limit his exposure to the cynical and probing media, opting instead to have him communicate through e-mail blasts, choreographed public appearances, vetted press releases and, yes, late-night talk shows.

It’s the same multipoint blueprint he followed on his victory romp to the governor’s mansion. The voters obviously ignored the media’s constant complaints that Jindal was ducking debates and refusing to answer the so-called hard questions.

Do I think Jindal should be more accessible to the media? Yes. Do I wish Sellers played nicer with my colleagues? Yes. Do I think we all suffer when the leader of our state isn’t required to face questions about the decisions he makes? Yes.

But I also know none of that matters as long as eight out of every 10 people in this state approve of Jindal’s performance. Should that number be cut in half, I’m guessing Jindal will have plenty to say.