Jessica Lee can remember exactly how it felt, the night she attended a dinner party at the Bushes', to drive her rusty blue Datsun sports car through the iron gates and up the driveway to the White House. ''I couldn't get over it, a Washington reporter parking in front of the door,'' said Ms. Lee, the White House reporter for USA Today.
Like some other journalists who have enjoyed the extraordinary new access that President Bush is allowing in an array of casual discussions not for publication, Ms. Lee said the chance to see the Gettysburg Address in the Lincoln Bedroom and other parts of the residential quarters was ''thrilling.''
She does not fear that such privileged and relaxed sessions with the President will compromise her objectivity. Rather, she said she believes she is getting a fuller picture of Mr. Bush's personality and forging a bond that will help her get more access on future news events.
The President's style of dealing with the press, dramatically different from Ronald Reagan's carefully managed, television-oriented approach, has revived a debate in journalism circles.
Some reporters say such private contacts give them additional insights. But many other journalists and media critics are skeptical, remembering the Camelot days when John F. Kennedy's courtship of reporters seemed to turn many of them into cheerleaders, and the tense days when Lyndon B. Johnson tried to build support for the Vietnam war with intense, personal persuasion of the press corps.
In both cases, many journalists worried afterwards that they may have crossed the line from journalism to advocacy.
Marlin Fitzwater, the President's press secretary, argues that the current post-Watergate crop of reporters are such ''competitive, cynical characters'' that they could never be turned into advocates. But Bush officials are eager to woo the press anyway, perhaps remembering the lesson of Jimmy Carter, a President who did not court the press and whose image suffered because many journalists did not like him. Congressional Approach
''George Bush recognizes the press's need to get information and its value to him as a leader of the country,'' said Mr. Fitzwater. ''You tell the press what you're doing and you tell them why and you hope to do it in a such way that they understand and support.''
Mr. Bush is reaching out to journalists in the same flattering way he reached out to Democrats in Congress, using the trappings of his office to try to win them over and make them partners in his conciliatory approach to making policy.
Conceding that he lacks President Reagan's potent screen presence, he has avoided the nationally televised evening press extravaganzas. Instead of using the press as a foil, he is meeting with reporters in frequent spontaneous news conferences, as well as offering invitations to small groups of journalists for private chats, with the contents not to be published or broadcast, hoping that they in turn will present his case in a more positive light.
Just as he impressed members of Congress and their spouses with cocktails on the Truman balcony, he is now offering journalists the tantalizing chance to see how his thinking is evolving on critical foreign and domestic issues.
Some journalists and media experts say this provides an important element of truth and depth for reporting; others say it is dishonest to the public, who never learn the true context and motivation for the information that then colors the reporting without attribution. 'A Very Heady Wine'
''President Bush is doing what other Presidents, like L.B.J. and John Kennedy did, who believed that if you could get close enough to the press, you'd have them on your side,'' said Fred Friendly, the director of Columbia University seminars on Media and Society. ''It's a very heady wine when a President asks you to have lunch at the White House, and there you are with the fancy dishes and impressive service.
''But what a President is trying to do when he goes off the record is to co-opt somebody. And reporters have to be wary of that.''
''Marlin said that the President would really like to pick our brains,'' said Mr. Friedman. ''I went because I wanted to pick his brain.''
Howell Raines, the Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, said: ''We have serious misgivings about this approach. We've told our reporters not to give advice, to avoid expressing opinions that would cast doubt on their objectivity and to withdraw if they feel they are being co-opted or compromised.''
Although under the ground rules for the lunch none of the reporters was able to write an article about the interview, which took place in the President's study and included his chief of staff, John H. Sununu, and his National Security Adviser, Brent Scowcroft, they said the meeting provided valuable insights. 'Family Dinner Table Style'
Mr. McNulty said he did not think the President's motives are ''so Machiavellian.'' Rather, he said, ''I think he enjoys the give and take. I got the impression that a lot of discussions at the White House are held that way, that Bush has a family dinner table style of arriving at solutions.''
Mr. Fitzwater said the President does not need reporters to give him advice. He merely wants to give them exposure that he thinks would help them do their job. ''It is hard for me to imagine a journalism school in America that would tell any reporter not to talk to the President for any reason,'' Mr. Fitzwater said.
Some journalists argue in favor of discussions with the President or Vice President with an agreement in advance that the information provided is off the record so it cannot be published at all or is background that can be published only if the source is not identified. They say that once the session begins, they can then try to obtain an agreement to allow some of the contents back on the record.
R. W. Apple Jr., the chief Washington correspondent of The New York Times, recently had lunch with the President and three other journalists, and asked Mr. Bush if the ground rules could be changed from off the record to background. ''If I can't use any of what you say, it's not of much use to my readers,'' Mr. Apple told Mr. Bush, who indicated that he would leave it up to Mr. Fitzwater. The press secretary agreed to change the rules for that session, but has now decided he wants to keep all such future sessions completely off the record. Vice President's Sessions
Vice President Dan Quayle has begun having his own private sessions with journalists, and Helen Thomas of United Press International, who is the senior member of the White House press corps, went to one such lunch for six reporters on Wednesday. Ms. Thomas openly took notes and continued to press until the lunch was put on the record, and Mr. Quayle made news talking about his growing confidence and his impressions of the Soviet Union.
Ms. Thomas said her stance is that she would never turn down an opportunity to talk to the President or Vice President because more knowledge means better reporting. ''If it's a question of our being taken in because we were fed a nice meal, that lasts about two minutes,'' she said.
Benjamin C. Bradlee Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post, said he became fed up in the late 1960's by the proliferation of private sessions by the Administration and told his reporters to refuse to participate. ''We struck out boldly,'' he recalled. ''But we were whomped right away.'' When no other news organizations followed suit, and with the Post's reporters losing important information, Mr. Bradlee told them to return to the private briefings. He said he regards Mr. Bush's greater accessibility, both on the record and with various other ground rules, ''more enlightened'' than Mr. Reagan's inaccessibility.