From WNYKRs in New York, this is NPR's On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone. Like toddlers mesmerized by a puppy,

journalists are captivated by zeros at the ends of numbers.

The millennium had three zeros at the end of it,

so the press coverage was enormous.

And when journalists looked at their calendars

and noticed that President Bush was

approaching a hundred days in office, they couldn't help themselves. You could sense the media knew

there was nothing inherently newsworthy about a hundred days, but it has two zeros. It's a hundred

days.

This is Nightline. Reporting from Washington, Ted Cappell.

What's so special about a president's first 100 days in office?

Truth be told, very little indeed.

They are probably no more or less valuable in forecasting the ultimate success of an

administration than those chicken or pigeon entrails that were used by soothsayers in Roman times.

And into the pundits and their predictions. At least entrails have some nutritional value.

Joining me now is a brand new pundit who was unable to escape the 100-day flu.

Jake Tapper hosts the CNN program Take 5 and covers politics for salon.com.

Jake, welcome to On the Media.

It's great to be here. Thanks, Bob.

The first 100 days are about to elapse.

And we will see stories about the success or failures in the first 100 days of the Bush administration.

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