Staged questions for Obama alarm beat reporters

Staged questions for Obama alarm beat reporters

Reporters on the White House beat are alarmed over what apparently was an incident of a question being staged for President Obama's news briefing on Tuesday, and they have grilled Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about it.

There were accusations the White House "planted" a reporter with a question, and that led to a defense by Gibbs of the practice that brought a query at one point from Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House that, "Aren't you – you and the president aware that this cast suspicion that all of such questions may be presidentially planted."

The situation had been described by Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, who reported Obama's statement, "I know Nico Pitney is here from the Huffington Post."



"Obama knew this because White House aides had called Pitney the day before to invite him, and they had escorted him into the room. They told him the president was likely to call on him, with the understanding that he would ask a question about Iran that had been submitted online by an Iranian," Milbank reported.

"Reporters looked at one another in amazement at the stagecraft they were witnessing. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel grinned at the surprised TV correspondents in the first row," Milbank continued. "The use of planted questioners is a no-no at presidential news conferences, because it sends a message to the world – Iran included – that the American press isn't as free as advertised."

The columnist wrote that the drama of the news briefing belonged to Pitney.

"During the eight years of the Bush administration, liberal outlets such as the Huffington Post often accused the White House of planting questioners in news conferences to ask preplanned questions. But here was Obama fielding a preplanned question asked by a planted questioner – from the Huffington Post," he said.

Milbank wrote that Obama later called on Macarena Vidal of the Spanish-language EFE agency in what apparently was another staged question.

"The White House called Vidal in advance to see whether she was coming and arranged for her to sit in a seat usually assigned to a financial trade publication," he wrote.

The sometimes-testy exchange with Gibbs started with the question: "I've got a procedural question about yesterday's news conference. What led to your decision to plant a designated hitter right here to ask the president a question? And what kind of a message do you think that sends to the American people and to the world about the kind of free-flow and pure questioning that's been expected at presidential news conferences?"

Gibbs: "Well, I think it did nothing more than underscore that free-flow. Peter, that was a question from an Iranian in Iran, using the same type of manner and method to get that information as, I guess, many of you and virtually every one of your outlets has done, because in this country we enjoy the freedom of the press."

Responded a reporter, "Couldn't he have accomplished that without you guys escorting someone through here and planting him the room?"

Gibbs deflected.

But the reporters were far from done: "Is this going to become a regular feature of President Obama's news conference, that you all are going to bring people in here that you select to ask questions?"

"I don't have any – I won't make any apologies for that," Gibbs concluded.

To Kinsolving's question about questioners being planted, Gibbs deflected again, asking other reporters whether they knew they would be allowed a question.

Still another reporter chimed in, "He (Kinsolving) makes a good point…"

The exchange continued with Gibbs avoiding direct answers, then he said, "I don't know how that perception comes out there, but I feel confident that if you feel that perception is out there, that you could deal with it."

"The question wasn't planted. That question wasn't planted," Gibbs said.