White House Press Corps Upset Over Lack Of Transparency At Executive Order Signing

The White House press corps is upset that President Obama kept reporters from covering his signing of the Bart Stupak Mollification Executive Order Of 2010, instead opting to unceremoniously sign the order behind closed doors and issue a photograph after the fact, reports Politico. As Kendra Marr notes:

The White House did not allow news reporters or photographers into Wednesday's Oval Office signing of the order reaffirming a ban on federal funding of abortion. Instead, it released an official photograph by White House photographer Pete Souza that some news organizations, including CNN and POLITICO, declined to use.

"That is not independent coverage," CNN's Ed Henry said of the photo on "The Situation Room." "While Pete Souza is a great photographer, he's on the White House payroll."

Lord knows I'm only too happy to mock the press corps when it gets too whiny about its treatment, but in this case, Ed Henry is absolutely right! While the existence of a Pete Souza photo of the event provides a nominal amount of transparency, it's important to remember that Souza is not at the White House to provide news coverage. He's there to provide a hagiographic chronicling of the Obama White House.

So, yes: when Obama passes by a portrait of Lincoln, or tosses a football, or stares ruefully into the middle distance, or is framed by anything, Pete Souza is there.

Also, Souza is good at taking pictures of place settings, and bowls of fruit, and... well, whatever the hell this is. The Souza photos the White House chooses to display all are released on the dedicated White House Flickr Feed, and they are fun to peruse -- but this is not "transparency."

Though some people have confused it as such!

"What about allowing us in, for openness and transparency?" a reporter asked, to which Gibbs shot back, "We'll have a nice picture from Pete that will demonstrate that type of transparency."

No, no! A "nice picture from Pete" is an invented, hyper-managed image. This is a matter that Ana Marie Cox and I have previously addressed:

Um, hey... we think that this notion that the pictures of Pete Souza and friends create some form of transparency, for "the people" is a little mangled. These are staged shots, taken by photographers who hump around the White House grounds, hiding in trees and shooting fruit bowls. This is arty, nature photography--just focused on the White House. Reality is a made thing, and Pete Souza will frame it in a doorway, or the window of an automobile.

So, yes: Pete Souza is not a substitute for "news coverage." Sorry!

RELATED:
The Annotated White House Flickr Feed, with Ana Marie Cox and Jason Linkins: A Message To You, Salahi [The Awl]

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Comments

[msjb12]

10:39 PM on 04/14/2010

people are getting to see what a great guy we put in the captains seat, he sure can tell lies and talk his way out of his underhanded tricks, yep he sure is a great president. A regular role model.

[msjb12]

06:42 AM on 04/11/2010

will this guy ever be honest and truthful I know he blames every thing that is said about him as being racist but I am not no racist but this presidents picture is by the word in the dictionary. He has to be the worst president we ever had in america, I think hes ruining chances for other black presidents if you ask me "GROW UP OBAMA"

[WorldGriot]

12:51 PM on 03/26/2010

Lead by the Fox News Pretenders, reporters have become the news. Every politician knows this which is why the republicans are so dramatic in their opposition to everything not republican. They know the press will not ask the real cogent questions like, "if the republicans are not going to govern, why are they still being paid? Don't they ask the same of the unions who go on strike?" So when it comes time to manage the image, the press is the last group you want in the room. I'm not sure the press, as a generalization, was ever that reliable. After all, I grew up in the South where even in the 1950's, the gray ghost was the most popular show on TV; Blacks were only covered at trials and lynchings and there simply were no Jews in the news. The real problem is that the right wing press has had the effect of pushing all press to the right and make them pretend that they are "fair and balanced". But the Gotcha industry has proven too lucrative for even the most innocent photogs so I fear that the time is near when many more such images will be protected. I for one, am not in either the press or politics but I sympathize with the government on this. TMI is not always good.

[OhTheHumanities]

11:14 AM on 03/26/2010

Wow, whatwankers are responding to this story. "What's the big deal??? Why is the press corps so whiney?"

the big deal is that SOME bill-signings are massive spectacles, broadway musical like spontaneous ejaculations from the standing and applauding...

While cowardly caving to the right wing doesn't merit press treatment. Well of course it doesn't. Who would want to know about THAT? Here I am, putting fingers in my ears and humming mmmm mmmm mmmm, it's a victory for women this healthcare bill....

rah rah rah keep the pep rally going you wannabees

[tc2598]

11:48 AM on 03/26/2010

So, we're cheerleaders, and you're the eye-rolling smart kid who's like, way above that sort of thing.

You know, Obama didn't get elected and handed a magic wand. The politic reality right now is full contact. He's got to play it smart, and I don't blame him.

The executive order that he signed was an unfortunate necessity, but it's not nearly as big a deal as the bill itself. I don't have my head in the sand when I say, I don't blame him for not throwing a parade every time he signs something.

The health care bill spectacle - yes, good politics. Good PR. The executive order, not so much.

Yes, he ran on transparency. And he also ran on health care reform, only to have the right wing - absolutely awesome at manipulating public opinion, spinning, lying, etc - suddenly convince a big enough section of the American people that they DIDN'T want what he ran on providing.

I think the press corp has a decent point, sure. But I'm not here to micromanage the guy who I elected to run the country. He's doing it how he sees fit, and I'm following it closely, and I'm on board.

It's easy to sit there and roll your eyes, but if Obama behaved the way you want him to, this bill would have been dead months ago.

Cowardly caving would have been not passing the bill. If it had not been passed now, it would never have been passed.

[ESerafina42]

10:41 AM on 03/26/2010

Sorry, Jason. They ARE whining. And so are you. I'm disappointed in you.

[workingliberal]

10:23 AM on 03/26/2010

What does it matter if there wasn't someone from a "news" organization there taking a picture?? It's news...it happened. I think we can all imagine (based on other pics) the Pres. sitting at a desk signing something. Do they think because they didn't take a pic it didn't happen or they were trying to "hide" something?

Whiners.

[ESerafina42]

10:34 AM on 03/26/2010

I agree - do reporters HAVE to be there EVERY time the President signs a bill into law? Have they always been? Were they there EVERY time Dubya signed a bill, and even when they were, did they bother to mention that it may have been completely emasculated with fifteen signing statements? Somehow, I don't think so.

[Tyler-Durden]

09:53 AM on 03/26/2010

i consider this WHINING.

the press corps is COMPLETELY AWARE of why they weren't invited.

the WH was fully aware that any live coverage would have been exploited by the media to their disadvantage

the people who wanted this order signed were given what they asked; the people who'd like to exploit this to undermine the prez's approval ratings were not.

[blue53]

08:35 AM on 03/26/2010

The WH press corps is a lazy, and disrespectful bunch of "want a be's"- they want a be journalists.

Parroting FOX talking points and presenting them to the Press secretary is not journalism. Allowing Bush to walk them into Iraq, is not journalism. Allowing the lies and distortions to go un-challenged is not journalism. We would be better served by having Junior high school students providing us with information.

[DrTerwilliker]

06:51 AM on 03/26/2010

Andrea Mitchell spent a fair amount of time carping about this non-issue. Speaking of hagiography, Mr Linkins, the entire WH press corp functioned as little more than Royal Court Stenographers for 8 years. Now their feathers are in a ruffle because they werent eye witnesses to Obama putting pen to the official Make Bart Stupak Go Away Signing Statement? Oh the outrage. What do they think they missed? He signed it in virgin blood maybe?

[kgdavid]

07:03 AM on 03/26/2010

what the press corps think they missed is obama signing an executive order denying abortions for some women. i think he campaigned as a pro-choicer, didn't he.

[DrTerwilliker]

07:14 AM on 03/26/2010

The signing statement regurgitates the language of Hyde re Fed money cant be used to pay for an abortion. Thats all. It was a fig leaf to allow Stupak to back away with a shred of his dignity intact after his attempt to impose what youre suggesting was rejected by Nancy Pelosi and most of the rest of the House Dems. Or perhaps you already know that and youre just trying to be a gadfly.

[GunnyJ]

06:09 AM on 03/26/2010

Please get over it! What was there to cover anyway? He did what he said he was going to do! Besides, by the time the story got back to us it would have sensationalized and slanted anyway..... Grow up press corps.

[msjb12]

06:51 AM on 04/11/2010

it just shows us how sneaky he is

[Puller58]

05:36 AM on 03/26/2010

Like most Administrations, team Obama dislikes the Press Corp. This is one of those moments where concern over the potential fallout outweighed concerns over "transparency."

[Daly]

03:36 AM on 03/26/2010

perhaps if they showed respect, did their jobs and stop with the GOP slanted talking points they would get more easy tosses...

meanwhile, this same PC failed us on so many levels, imho they are just as responsible as Bush/Chaney for our current multilayer mess.

For news I have to go to BBC, French24 or Canada TV f

infotainment= MSM

[dylbud]

02:37 AM on 03/26/2010

How would watching a bill signing ceremony be "transparency"?

Transparency in government refers to being able to see the decision making process. When a president signs a bill, the decision making process is already over.

[lovetolast]

03:01 AM on 03/26/2010

That's it in a nutshell. This kerfuffle is a whole bunch of whiny, inconsequential nonsense.

[istvan13]

09:10 AM on 03/26/2010

Well stated, fanned.

[Withknowlegdecomessorrow]

02:32 AM on 03/26/2010

I am surprised at Linkins for supporting that whiny bunch of babies.

This is the same press corps that still do NOT know who was on Cheney's
Energy Board that made major decisions and helped bush to break the economy,
but they are complaining about taking a picture. Please!

[lovetolast]

03:02 AM on 03/26/2010

Thank you...fanned!

[the964kid]

02:24 AM on 03/26/2010

Do they wanna get a photo op of Bo Obama doing his business too?? Where were many of these same chumps when Bush was taking us into unnecessary wars? The press needs to stop crying...

[ESerafina42]

10:38 AM on 03/26/2010

Yes, and let's see - where was the fearless press corps when the Downing Street Memos came out? All over it? Oh, that's right. They were AWOL. Or giggling at Dubya's inane jokes and insulting "nicknames."

And remember all those HUGE protests against the war? Again, the same people who fall over themselves broadcasting a washed-up has-been half-term governor talking to 600 whackjobs for an astronomically inflated amount of money couldn't be bothered to report hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets against an illegal, immoral war.

[the964kid]

09:27 PM on 03/26/2010

It's no wonder people aren't buying newspapers or news magazines...