(UPDATED) First lady won't be doing interviews with 'political reporters

It looks like media access to Michelle Obama is officially limited to late night talk shows and lifestyle interviewers.

The Los Angeles Times ran a profile on the first lady today with a look at how she has defined herself (the Times conclusively labels her "first celebrity"). A press secretary for President Obama's campaign declined to make Michelle available for the feature.

[T]here's no doubt the Michelle Obama profile is a matter of personality — and politics — within a White House that uses nontraditional channels to communicate its message. She declined a request to be interviewed for this article. "The first lady is not going to do any interviews with political reporters," said Olivia Alair, a campaign press secretary.

Granted, there's good reason for limiting access to Michelle. He favorability is up in the high sixties, according to the latest Gallup poll, making her one of the very few popular figures in politics. No reason to roll the dice on that.

In the meantime, you can see Michelle on the Late Show tomorrow night delivering the Top 10 list. This marks her fourth appearance ever on the program, two of which will have taken place within a week's time.

UPDATE: An official with the Obama campaign tells us Alair was misquoted by the Los Angeles Times. "The first lady has sat down with all kinds of media, including numerous political reporters in the past, and will continue to reach a broad range of audiences including doing political interviews this week," the official told us.

The official did not provide specific interviews Michelle has scheduled with political reporters this week but pointed us to a report in Politico that says the first lady will sit down with NBC's Brian Williams on Thursday.

[LA Times]