Posted on 02/02/2011 2:25:43 PM PST by Kaslin
After being shut out of the President’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) is appealing to the White House to give the press corps access to an event that’s been called one of the President’s most important foreign policy priorities for almost a year – the signing of the START Treaty. In a letter to Press Sec. Robert Gibbs, the WHCA Board complained about their lack of access to the President throughout the crisis in Egypt and outlined their request to open today’s treaty signing to the White House pool. Letter from Julia Whiston of the WHCA below:
Good morning Robert,
We recognize that the crisis in Egypt is a quickly evolving story and you are working to get us the information we need in a timely manner, but we are concerned about several access issues on Tuesday and now today.
On behalf of the White House Correspondents Association we are writing to protest in the strongest possible terms the White House’s decision to close the President’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and his signing of the START Treaty today to the full press pool.
The START treaty was held up as one of the President’s most important foreign policy priorities for almost a year dating back to the trip to Prague last spring. We are concerned that now his signing of it is open to still photographers but closed to editorial, including print and wire reporters and television cameras.
We know the President came out late last night to speak on Egypt, and we appreciate the email updates from NSC spokesman Tommy Vietor, but his emails have not gone to all members of the press corps and are not a substitute for access to the Press Secretary or the President.
Prior to the President’s statement Tuesday night, the press corps had not received a substantive update from the White House all day on the situation in Egypt. In addition, the press corps did not have an on-camera briefing, or an off-camera gaggle, with you yesterday to ask the White House about its decision-making process during this major foreign policy crisis. Now for two straight days the full press pool is being shut out of events that have typically been open and provided opportunities try to ask the President a question.
These issues are vitally important for all of our members – print, TV and radio.
We value our working relationship, and we hope you will reconsider and at least open the START Treaty signing to the full pool.
Thank you for your consideration,
The WHCA Board
I don’t like witness and documentation of my stupidity, corruption, and illegal treason against our constitutional law either.
The very same WHCA whose propagandist membership talks daily about the A$$ Clown in Chief's “transparency”?
Are they afraid someone’s going to ask about DeathCare and The Messiah won’t have his prompter with him?
They will all be forgiving when they get their invitations to the next Correspondents dinner when they listen to Obama insult Republicans and the citizenry ‘waving little tea bags around’;...
WTF are they complaining about? I heard they were watching basketball with the man Saturday evening in the White House, during which time the Egyptian crisis was in full swing.
Some people are just never satisfied.
Obama is personally contemptuous of everyone he does not fear, which is why it’s better to be his enemy than his friend. Most liberals share that malady, which is why they “respect” Islam, while despising Chritianity.
What...journalists don’t like that “changey” thing Obama is doing by keeping them out of the loop? He promised change, guess the’re getting it now.
Even Sports Illustrated finally had to admit Donovan McNabb was and still is overrated!
They’re b!tching about missing the signing of the worthless START treaty?
What the hell do they think will escape them there? The opportunity to praise the little jackass for saving humankind once more?
As for the Cabinet meeting, the only thing newsworthy would be Biden saying something impardonably stupid-—and they never cover that anyway.
Bunker mentality.
When your oval office has become a “War Room” for the Muslem Brotherhood, you tend to give restricted access when there’s talk of shootin jews and redistributing their property.
Hey Press Corp Zero is busy planning his next vacation (like ASAP) so nothing to see there anyway.
He never lets a good crisis get in the way of his vacations, you know!
If the whole press ‘corpse’ is uninvited altogether, isn’t that open policy?
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