Friday, January 23, 2009

President Obama & White House press marriage off to a rocky start


The marriage between President Obama and the White House press corps seems to be off to a rocky start. CBS's Bill Plante expressed his frustration with how the swearing in re-do was handled, and his displeasure that ABC News (who contributed tons of money to sponsor the Neighborhood Inauguration Ball) was given the only Inauguration Day interview with President Obama. Bill Plante actually suggested that that smelled of "pay-to-play". In another testy moment of the day President Obama expressed his displeasure at being asked about his Deputy Defense Secretary nominee, William J. Lynn, III, while paying a surprise visit to the White House press corps.

Key moment occurs at approx. 3:40


Perhaps, hopefully, this is a sign that the mainstream media isn't going to be a lapdog media for President Obama.

Obama flashes irritation in press room (Politico)
Media frustration spills into briefing (Politico)
AP Worried Obama Rules Media With Iron Fist (NewsBusters)
War: Media Blasts Obama For Stalinist Control, Lack Of Transparency, “Pay To Play” Interviews To Friendly Reporters (Pat Dollard)
Obama Angrily Puts His Hands On Reporter - With Video (Pat Dollard)

1 comment:

Chuck said...

Funny how the media all of a sudden finds out he is secretive. Maybe they should have paid attention to his work to quash stories during the campaign.