High-profile members of the media met on Tuesday night at the Folger Shakespeare Library for a Vanity Fair-sponsored discussion of election coverage, including NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, former White House communications officer Dan Bartlett, Frank Rich of the New York Times, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, and Vanity Fair’s Todd Purdum.

An event summary after the jump…

As the only conservative on the panel, Bartlett half-jokingly claimed that the media would not be objective towards an Obama administration or hold him accountable. Purdum, himself an editor, acknowledged that many editors of major media outlets were “in love with the idea of Obama,” and would spin information gleaned from reporters on the campaign plane. Mitchell used the forum to gripe about her treatment by the McCain campaign, who condemned her reporting in press releases–without contacting her first.

The hectic life of reporters during election season, Mitchell claimed, meant “it’s either reporting or sleeping,” which perhaps prompted an appearance by her husband, former Fed Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. “I’m here to see my wife,” he told FishbowlDC, just before being mobbed by the crowd at the conclusion of the panel discussion. One angry member of the audience hissed “Shame on you!” at the elderly — but unfazed — Greenspan, as he attempted to make his way towards his wife on stage.

- Tiffany March