Posted on 01/30/2009 7:47:59 AM PST by pjsbro
It’s 3 p.m. and the phone in the White House press secretary’s office is ringing. It rings and rings and rings. Eventually, a recorded voice asks callers to leave a message—followed by a second voice saying the voicemail box is full.
After a full week of such calls, a human being answers. But Ben Labolt immediately bristles when asked to spell his name, refuses to give his job title, and says he is going “off the record” until I stop him to explain that the reporter grants that privilege, not the other way around—a basic journalistic standard that Labolt seems unaware of. He soon hangs up without even hearing what I called to ask about.
A return call is answered by Priya Singh, who spells her name when asked, but does not know (or will not say) what her job title is and several times describes requests for information about how the Obama administration press office is operating as a “complaint” which she would pass on. She says she is not authorized to comment, though she at one point tells me she is a spokesperson.
This might be the simply the problems of a new administration struggling to cope with a flood of calls and perhaps the complex machinery of the modern office. But it might also indicate that President Obama’s messages about open government have not reached press secretary Robert Gibbs and his staff.
(Excerpt) Read more at cjr.org ...
“Who dares question the Great and Powerful President of Oz?”
That presumes his "messages about open government" were honorable, and not just so much mush for the masses. Oh these journalists and their love affairs...
Simply go after the staff... it is the “soft white underbelly” of the entire dem machine..
Interestingly, CJR called my house once and all they wanted was the correct spelling of my name. Nothing else.
I pity the White House press corp.They have to look at Helen Thomas and listen To Robert Gibbs every day!
What’s up with this “middle class” speech he is giving this morning at the White House with a pianist playing lounge music for the audience while awaiting his arrival?
huh? that’s kinda weird. maybe there’s something subliminal in the music..? ;o)
I’m suprised he didn’t ask Springsteen to do his “opening act”
Yeah, this article is right on.
I mean, it’s not like Obama is getting any press coverage.
I PRAY they keep Robert Gibbs as press secretary. He is as ready for that job as Rosie O’Donnell is ready to be an Olypmic gymnast. This is the Ted Mack administration- strictly amateur hour
Evidently “journalists” think they worked to elect a democratic/republican form of government. Despots and dictators don’t have to answer questions!
Who pr what is CJR?
“Open Government” and “Transparency” were just Sound Bytes, don’tchaKnow?
I suspect, however, that all new presidents have the same sorts of startup problems.
Columbia Journalism Review.
Columbia Journalism Review. The new magazine from Columbia’s J-school.
I had some fun with the NYT when the held an All Hands meeting across the street from their building in a movie theater. Hal Raines addressed the staff about Jayson Blair.
I was outside there in my Saddam Huessen get up, modified to be “Baghdad BoB”, with signature glasses and a neon green 8 and a half by 11 “Hello My Name Is Baghdad Bob” sticker.
The CJR moron wasn’t “nueanced” enough to get it right that I was Baghdad Bob, but the did report that my shoes had run down heels. So the CJR is exactly like the Obama press office, if you’re looking for real news, they can’t help you.
“All of your government and information are belong to us”
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