Saturday, April 17, 2010

White House Press Gripes to Gibbs

I think the press is upset that a lot of times Obama doesn't go through the filter of the press, which has a tendency to distort a story according to their political leanings.
Rather, Obama goes straight to the people with town halls, youtube videos, weekly addresses, even the West Wing Report.
The White House blog passes on information directly to the people, bypassing the press.
The press could get more access if they improved their game, get back to basics, start covering the news. Start being journalists. Where was the media when healthcare was being distorted? Where was the analysis? All we got was tea party coverage.
The White House press is strong on politics but weak on policy. They'll argue that we don't want to know about policy, but they're wrong. We just want it in a way that we can understand it.
So far, the press hasn't done a very good job with the access they've had. Why should they get more?
Before I read or watch any story these days I know I'm either going to get a left slant or a right slant. I don't even bother with Fox because it's virtually gossip.
P.S. to the press: Let the man watch his daughters' soccer games in peace. While it's interesting, we don't need to know what color hat and pants he wore to Malia's soccer game.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs met with a delegation from the White House press corps for 75 minutes on Thursday in an effort to improve frayed relations between the two sides.

Ed Chen, a White House correspondent for Bloomberg News who is president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said he asked for the meeting “to clear the air because in my 10-plus years at the White House, rarely have I sensed such a level of anger, which is wide and deep, among members over White House practices and attitude toward the press.”

Chen said he feels “very good about the collegial give and take.”

“We had a very good exchange with Robert,” Chen said. “He stayed overtime, and thus was late for his next meeting.” Read more at Politico.