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Is press finally getting fed up with White House?

Is press finally getting fed up with White House?

Tardy to the outrage party

We in the conservative media have spent a great deal of time over the past 6 years criticizing the Obama comms shop for freezing the media out of its most controversial decisions. Conservatives are used to a biased press pool, and for the most part, this group hasn’t disappointed in that regard, even when they haven’t had all the information they needed to write a story.

Apparently, though, the lack of information flowing from the White House to the press pool has slowed to a trickle—and the corps is ready to fight back.

The White House Correspondents Association is preparing a list of demands promises they hope the White House will commit to. The corps has been working on the list for over a year, but a recent snub on the part of the President’s team has kicked the conversation about press access into high gear.

The Washington Examiner explains what happened:

On Thursday, the pool of reporters following President Obama to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was meeting with leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were broken up and only photographers were allowed in to see the meeting.

Members of the Association complained to the White House that print reporters were not allowed into the meeting to write details about it. It was not, however, a formal complaint, which requites a vote by the Association board.

The White House should take note of the fact that its most faithful collective lieutenant is turning on a once mutually-beneficial relationship:

Although the Salt Lake City incident appears to be the immediate cause, Obama has long had a troubled relationship with the White House press corps. Reporters have openly complained about the White House’s lack of transparency, with some even claiming to have been on the receiving end of “profanity-laced tirades” from White House officials.

A White House Correspondents’ Association seminar last year basically turned into a White House bash-fest, with some going as far as to call it “more dangerous” to press freedom than any other administration.

Last year, the Washington Post published a comprehensive report on specific instances of the White House not just suppressing, but targeting journalists:

At some point, a compendium of condemnations against the Obama administration’s record of media transparency (actually, opacity) must be assembled. Notable quotations in this vein come from former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, who said, “It is the most secretive White House that I have ever been involved in covering”; New York Times reporter James Risen, who said, “I think Obama hates the press”; and CBS News’s Bob Schieffer, who said, “This administration exercises more control than George W. Bush’s did, and his before that.”

USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page has added a sharper edge to this set of knives. Speaking Saturday at a White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) seminar, Page called the current White House not only “more restrictive” but also “more dangerous” to the press than any other in history, a clear reference to the Obama administration’s leak investigations and its naming of Fox News’s James Rosen as a possible “co-conspirator” in a violation of the Espionage Act.

The press corps may be tardy to the outrage party, but at this point, any willingness of the mainstream media to call the White House on the carpet should be encouraged.

Maybe celebrated—we’ll see how this goes.

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Comments

Awwww. Poor babies. All those years of abject veneration and all they have to show for it are sore knees. Such a shame.

I’m not buying ‘fed up” . In my book “fed up” would have meant that they stood up and found the nearest exit at the so called ‘daily briefings’ . It would be an insult to the intelligence of a high school newspaper journalist to sit there and listen to such crap answers. Their umbrage is as phony as they are……..Obama needs them a LOT more than they need him.

The “press” will get angry just in time to take out their anger about Obama on every GOP candidate. But not on Hillary. Never on Hillary.

    MikeInCA in reply to Michael Haz. | April 4, 2015 at 5:08 pm

    yep, it’s so the Press can say, “Hey, we were tough on Obama too. Remember when we sent him an angry letter? OK, he ignored it, but we sent it. So there.”

Fed up? Hardly. This is a temporary lovers’ spat between two groups of dedicated socialists.

Henry Hawkins | April 4, 2015 at 12:28 pm

We’re 18 months from Nov 2016, in the back half of Obama’s second term and the WH press corps and media at large are fed up all of a sudden? Oh, gimme a break.

They’ve been played and lied to by the Obama administration, like any other American citizen, they’ve known it for at least five years, and are slowly beginning to understand, too late, that all previous excuses for media opacity were lies to string them along. For them, the emperor is not quite naked, but he is down to his skivvies.

We’re watching the breakdown of faith among a primary set of Obama’s most ardent and loyal worshippers.

Iddin’t it awesome?

Midwest Rhino | April 4, 2015 at 1:23 pm

Maybe they will act out against Obama a little, paving a path for “Ready for HillarY”. Their new hope and change is First Woman President.

Or maybe that will change to Warren, if that is the leftist machine choice, and old Hillary flounders. As Obama keeps flouting law to impose the leftist agenda, the MSM will offer faint resistance, as I see it.

Heck NO. They are just embarrassed at being seen as battered wives. They are loving every minute of their so called abuse.

Sun_Zeneise | April 4, 2015 at 2:16 pm

Sono tutti castrati

50 Shades of Yellow. The press are Anastasia, Barry’s their Christian Grey, and everyone knows that all parties concerned are getting exactly what they want out of this relationship.

They see His Infantile Majesty’s *VTC and clone it. Not that they had anything bigger than a b-b to begin with.

Feckless Harry says he lied about Mitt on the Senate floor and these same press lapdawgs avert their ears & eyes.

*VAST Testicular Concavity*

willingness of the mainstream media to call the White House on the carpet

Not a chance.

The press wants us to understand the suffering they all go through while sucking up to O’Duce and The Agenda. Being a loyal co-conspirator (or a spineless sycophant) can be hard work, and only true believers can be expected to stay the course.

There’s no implication that they intend to stop; they just want to be appreciated.

None of this matters to me. The dishonest media, most particularly the Washington Post, spiked stories that disadvantaged the Obama campaign. The elections are what count. They will be performing the same services to the next Democratic candidate.

Bunch of Baghdad Bobs.

Someone will throw them a small bone to gnaw on and they will slobber over it for the remainder of this term.

Carol Herman | April 4, 2015 at 7:37 pm

Look! With this president there is no Sam Donaldson!

True, we’ve also moved away from the TV set. And, there’s no journalist out there gaining any traction.

What was the latest story that grabbed your attention? Perhaps, tossing the florist out the door reached viral heights? (I didn’t even know the White House supported a floral shop.) And, until Moochelle’s re-do of the family dining space … brought people to attention … What got noticed was the rug she put in that looked like a whole bunch of paperclips tossed on the floor.

Oh. And, if you chose journalism for your major … you’re a good candidate to becoming a hamburger flipper at McDonald’s.

It’s like gender studies. Then, when people are told the amounts of money these numbskulls owe in student loans, the first reaction doesn’t produce sympathy.

Journalism. Gender studies. Advertising that you’ve never taken any math. And, nothing changes this. Because no one is writing anything anyone else wants to read. (With the caveat that the Rolling Stone published a big rape lie … and the boob, Erdely, or whatever her name is; never even bothered to check out her story with the person who got accused … who didn’t do it! The only thing that can come from stuff like this is lawsuits.)

Alas, lawsuits take there merry time to evolve.

    NeoConScum in reply to Carol Herman. | April 4, 2015 at 9:39 pm

    Carol…You must be recalling a different Sam Donaldson than me. Cojones on Sam…? Nope, no more than the sterling integrity guy, Danny Boy Rather.

Henry Hawkins | April 4, 2015 at 10:22 pm

WH Press Corps complaint to Obama administration:

“How can we help push your agenda if you freeze us out?”

    Henry wins the internets today!

    NeoConScum in reply to Henry Hawkins. | April 5, 2015 at 1:01 pm

    Henry the Hawk…I vote enthusiastically with Barry. DAMN, Boyo, I’ll credit’cha 3-times and then adopt it as my own!! Hey, just sayin’…

    “As Henry Hawkins so aptly put it…” “As someone mentioned at a favored blog…” “As I’ve long said,the slathering MSM Lapdogs mindset is,’How can we help push the Bama’s Agenda if he freezes us OUT??'”

    Gratefully, NCS.

    Henry Hawkins in reply to Henry Hawkins. | April 5, 2015 at 2:22 pm

    Thank you, gentlemen. I’ll probably get audited for that one.

    I’d thought to myself, ‘what would the WH press corpse do if they had full and open access to the Obama admin?’ They’d do an even better job of hiding his mistakes and pushing their shared agenda, that’s what.