Getting It Wrong
The honeymoon might already be over with the White House press corps:
“I do,” the spokesman said, his cornflower-colored tie suddenly looking a bit too tight. “Are we allowed to repeat that name?” Mr. Gibbs answered by citing as precedent of Brazilian soccer stars being known only by a single name – sure to one day be a classic White House non-answer.
Then it got uglier.
“How is it transparent,” another reporter asked, “when you control the only image of the re-swearing – there’s nobody in there but four print reporters, there’s no stills, there’s no television? And the only recording that comes out, as I understand it, is one that a reporter made, not one that the White House supplied.”
Again, had the media done its job during the campaign, and really tested Obama and his people before they took over, they might not be making these rookie mistakes. If there were laws against journalistic malpractice, there’d be people on trial right now. Lots of them.
Ironic that the re-swearing in was unnecessary, done just to head off silly non-controversys, but instead, because of the amateur handling (why go to the trouble of doing an essentially visual PR stunt and then not bring any cameras?!?), it’s become a controversy all its very own.
And among the people who, prior to Nov 4, thought Obama could do no wrong!
It’s kind of ironic, but if I close my eyes and just listen to Gibbs, I’d swear it is Karl Rove talking….
Reporters were there and saw it, and one recorded it.
That’s transparency – nothing was done in secret.
“There isn’t any photo or video” is not a lack of transparency, it’s a lack of giving the news media what they want. Photos and video are immaterial to the public significance (which is trivial anyway) of the action.
Tempest, teakettle.
(Though I share the belief, which I saw elsewhere, that this was simply the sort of “mistake” in media-management that a rookie team (the new White House media management team) makes, and doubt that any sort of pre-election “testing” of Obama’s campaign media team would have had any impact on this.)
Yea, but if the media had done their job, where else would we get all this free entertainment from? If I didnt know any better, I’d say the media engineered this whole thing deliberately to give themselves an easy target to write about every day for the next eight years to boost their sagging careers.
Anyone else see “The Hudsucker Proxy”?, it sort of reminds me of that.
“Can I get that tie in cornflower blue?”
The honeymoon isn’t over. They’re at the point in the honeymoon where Barry announces he intends to keep seeing other people, and the press is wondering how long it should stay locked in the bathroom to keep its dignity before it comes out and says ok.
This is the media reverting to type. They are the self-appointed arbiters of what is news and what isn’t; anyone who tries to usurp their right to “control the image” is The Enemy, even if it’s someone who they’ve been shilling for for more than a year.
Media: Waaaa!
Administration: (rolls eyes)
Media: Double Waaaa!
Administration: (shuts door)
Media: Waaaa!
As it was, so it will always be.