It would be hard — impossible, actually — to argue that Obama hasn’t been accessible to the media, not with his constant television interviews. The man has even done color commentary at a Georgetown basketball game. But the decision to bypass the White House press corps is no accident.
“It’s a source of great frustration here,” says Chip Reid, CBS’s White House correspondent. “It’s important for us to hold the president’s feet to the fire.”
NBC White House reporter Chuck Todd calls the situation a “shame,” saying the administration is trying to control the message rather than allowing Obama to be seen “unscripted.”
Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, counters: “We have probably done more interviews with more reporters at this point in our presidency than anybody else has. We have hardly been a shrinking violet when it comes to turning on your TV and seeing Barack Obama.” The president, he says, finds news conferences to be an “important way of communicating,” but the next one will be during the day, carried only on cable, not in prime time. “We get that going to that well too many times doesn’t make sense for anybody,” Gibbs says.
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