With a taste of insidery footage and a not-too-polished look, the White House unveiled its latest video blog on Friday recapping the West Wing events of the past week in the most recent example of the Obama administration taking its news directly to the public, rather than through the press.

The Washington Post said the the vlog -- called West Wing Week -- follows a tradition of using technology to shape a favorable image for the commander-in-chief.

"The blog doesn't break any news," notes the Post's Paul Farhi. "It also doesn't show the president as anything less than presidential in word and deed."

It does offer the public some behind-the-scenes footage and it's shot with handheld cameras to give a documentary feel.

Here's the clip for this week, which includes an brief interview with the Homeland Security secretary, footage from the White House Situation Room, and the president congratulating the new prime minister of the U.K. with an Oval Office phone call: