WASHINGTON INSIGHT

TREAT THE PRESS: Even before longtime Republican aide David Gergen was brought in to shape up the Democratic White House, President Clinton’s operatives were readying new efforts to win over that pesky pressure group, the press. Namely, parties and flicks. . . . Over the last few days, the President and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton--like many of their predecessors--began hosting dinners for such luminaries of the Washington journalistic Establishment as Washington Post Co. chief Katharine Graham, columnists Jack Germond and Jules Witcover, Washington Post reporter David Broder, Wall Street Journal bureau chief Al Hunt and others. And look for some courting of the media in one of the President’s favorite places, the White House movie theater. The Administration’s hope? That as the reels turn, the news will spin.