Robert Gibbs: White House Press Corps Is Playing To The Cameras -- 'I Think We All Are'

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Sunday chastised reporters covering the Obama administration for playing to the cameras, but broadened the criticism to include himself as well.

"I think we all are," Gibbs said in an interview on CNN's "Reliable Sources. "I'm not absolving myself." He added: "There are so many issues that we're dealing with that are hard to boil down to 20 seconds."

The White House spokesman also told CNN's Howard Kurtz that he knows when a member of the press corps "thinks they have a good question," because, he said, "when I walk in they've already got their makeup on."

Gibbs's remarks come at a time of heightened tensions between the White House press shop and the reporters that cover the White House. Last week Gibbs held a closed-door meeting with representatives from several news organizations in an attempt to health those rifts. According to Politico's Mike Allen:

Ed Chen, a White House correspondent for Bloomberg News who is president of the White House Correspondents' Association, said he asked for the meeting "to clear the air because in my 10-plus years at the White House, rarely have I sensed such a level of anger, which is wide and deep, among members over White House practices and attitude toward the press."

That anger appeared to boil over recently when, in a break with long-established protocol, President Obama left the White House to attend his daughter's soccer game without informing the White House pool -- the small group of reporters and photographers who follow the president wherever he goes.

During his "Reliable Sources" appearance on Sunday Gibbs took issue with questions about why President Obama has not held a full-scale press conference for months. "This is an arbitrary Washington measure," Gibbs said.

"This president has taken questions through countless interviews through -- answering questions directly from the media," he added.

In the wide-ranging interview with Kurtz, Gibbs also criticized "Fox News": "I don't think many people have to watch Fox to understand the -- the political slant that they have," he said. The press secretary also spoke about his use of Twitter, calling it "an amazing tool."

Gibbs also revealed that he has been in discussions with White House reporters about ending the use of background sources in their reporting, but that the two sides did not reach an agreement. Here's an excerpt from the "Reliable Sources" transcript:

GIBBS: I will say this. Yes, we had a discussion with the White House correspondents earlier in the year about the use of background sources. And I offered the Correspondents' Association -- I said, "Let's end background." Right? We won't do background. You don't do background.

KURTZ: And the reaction?

GIBBS: And the -- the specific offer was if you've got a background source, one -- you should put them on the record. And if you're not going to put them on the record, then have somebody at the White House...

KURTZ: Give an on the record response...

GIBBS: Give -- give them an opportunity ... to say that that is or is not true. And we would attach our name to it.

KURTZ: Is that because you don't like -- I mean, look. We just talked about an authorized leak.

GIBBS: Yes.

Comments

[jon86]

06:11 PM on 04/19/2010

The daily press briefing and White House press corps no longer serve a viable purpose.

[Lairs]

10:37 PM on 04/19/2010

Agreed 100% jon86. The Pillsbury Dough Boy is so pathetic.

[ladcrp]

04:18 PM on 04/19/2010

Magic Mitt,
Yeah, and I'm sure he wears MAGIC UNDERWEAR. Did you ever wonder how those early Mormon settlers were able to attain enough women to give every man several wives. I mean that kind the natural idea that people have roughly the same number of boy births as the do girl births. Just think about lot's of subservient women. Several for every guy. Now this is a church that a man could learn to love.
Well they did it by pillaging on their way to Utah. C'mon y'all and bring those women and children
If you would like more insight into Mormon Heritage, then look into the Meadows Massacre. It is not a religion, it is a cult.

[joepglass]

03:30 PM on 04/19/2010

Wow, even journalist might protest this president.

[rick91]

03:50 PM on 04/19/2010

Bush set the all-time record for that.

[Greg2000]

12:40 PM on 04/19/2010

Sen. Scott Brown, a Republican who won a long-held Democratic Senate seat in Massachusetts in January by seizing on public antagonism toward Washington, said: "It's clear Washington is broken. There's too much partisan bickering to be able to solve the problems people want us to solve."

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Nobody ever asked him why does he want to vote against the financial reform bill without having a single clue about what the bill is about. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/16/scott-brown-cant-explain-_n_540555.html.
Just ask yourself: How, in the world, it didn't make the headlines but Tiger Wood did?

Meanwhile the MSM will try to redirect the real cause of the problem to some abstract entity like the "government or Washington". They will do anything to prevent people from identifying the key factors that led to that gridlock such as: Influence of lobbyists, the culture of ignorance nursed by news channels anchors and their cronies( supposedly party strategists), the obsession about a false objectivity or balance( CNN: Is the world really flat? Let's see with our strategy session), and the emergence of the shameless( Nowadays, people lie in your face and the media will consider it as a political opinion).

We've seen it with the election of GWB(twice). The worst has yet to come, just watch.

[ladcrp]

04:17 PM on 04/19/2010

Yeah, and I'm sure he wears MAGIC UNDERWEAR. Did you ever wonder how those early Mormon settlers were able to attain enough women to give every man several wives. I mean that kind the natural idea that people have roughly the same number of boy births as the do girl births. Just think about lot's of subservient women. Several for every guy. Now this is a church that a man could learn to love.
Well they did it by pillaging on their way to Utah. C'mon y'all and bring those women and children
If you would like more insight into Mormon Heritage, then look into the Meadows Massacre. It is not a religion, it is a cult.

[Al Sweargen]

12:31 PM on 04/19/2010

and this is a surprise? this guy is a massive t00l that acts like it's open mic night at the laugh-hole every time he get's in front of the microphone.

no respect for the job, no respect for the journalists and zero respect for the people.

[jwredd]

02:45 PM on 04/19/2010

Why do righties get so angry and overly offended every time Gibbs gets a well placed zinger in there? And talk about respect, your party championed the yahoo that stood up in the halls of congress and yelled out "you lie" to the president of the United States. Respect? Give us a break...

[profitforless]

12:29 PM on 04/19/2010

I remember the White house press corps cellphones ringing when he was holding a briefing – he had to confiscate them . They have no respect .

[tibetanterrier]

12:21 PM on 04/19/2010

The Press Corp coward under a mushroom cloud with flag waving lunacy and assisted the w@r cr!minal. They probably get lobbied harder than politicians.

[Malchus105]

12:12 PM on 04/19/2010

So now the press is complaining about the WH and it's relationship to the press. What else is new? The very same President who was being characterized last year as being “overexposed”, is now criticized for not holding enough press conferences. The whiners complaint that the press pool was not notified of his intention to go see his daughter's soccer game is laughable. Did the pool really miss out on some high-level presidential news story because the President wanted a few private moments to watch his daughter play soccer? I don't happen to be a big fan of Robert Gibbs, but I often wonder how he puts up with the boiler-plate, sophomoric questions generated by today's press. Any living members of the old White House Press Corp, must roll their eyes in horror at what now passes for thoughtful and challenging questioning. Cable news is even worse, faced with 24 hours to fill with programming, they resort to “creating” the news more often than they “report” the news. Every story is mined for it's potential to fill time, and like the old newspaper cliché', “if it bleeds it leads”, Cable looks for controversy and negativity in place of real news. A screaming Tea Party crowd can dominate the “news” with their posters and “red meat” speakers, while substantive, informative reporting is minimized. The WH is smart to steer clear of this charade and to craft it's own messages and presentations to the country.

[mhazard]

01:03 PM on 04/19/2010

Well said. Fanned.

[LittleRedHenSez]

11:40 AM on 04/19/2010

Can't stand the press corps but Gibbs' personality doesn't play well in front of the camera. Maybe I just don't like press secretaries--Dana Perino was even worse. Trying to remember a good one....nope, can't.

[Numskll]

08:36 AM on 04/21/2010

Despite the myth of liberal bias all mainstream media consistently gives greater voice to conservatives than liberals--this includes so-called liberal bastions like NPR and MSNBC. When the cons are in power they claim they are reporting on what leaders are saying. When the libs are in power they claim they are giving voice to "the opposition." It is all a shell game

[jsgaetano]

11:13 AM on 04/19/2010

Funny how the WH press corpse spent eight years being a lapdog begging for scraps (and retyping press releases) for the Bush WH... but now that a Democrat is in office, they feel like they should be in control.

The press corpse is yet another group which has lost all credibility, kind of like the GOP and conservatives in general.

[sissyreed]

10:58 AM on 04/19/2010

I can't stand Robert, uh, um, Gibbs. He has to be the worst press secretary of all time. I thought this administration was suppose to be the most transparent. It has turned out to be the opposite.

[jwredd]

11:42 AM on 04/19/2010

What does your perceived quality level of the sitting press secretary have to do with the administration's transparency level? You don't actually think Gibbs decides what gets put out and what doesn't, do you?

[anniebwanny]

10:49 AM on 04/19/2010

One of the most interesting parts of this-- he didn't go to a soccer game-- see www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5idiGLGKQYwDSrpj-R7QVJDNuSDPAD9F0D2080 no one saw him there; if the president of the US were at a soccer game, don't you think another parent would have noticed or snapped a picture? Where did he actually go?

[LittleRedHenSez]

11:48 AM on 04/19/2010

He found a portal and used his cloak of invisibility?

[mhazard]

01:08 PM on 04/19/2010

He's very smart and knew how not to be found. Good for him!

[Nelson Montana]

10:22 AM on 04/19/2010

Gibbs is a dreadful press secretary and a horrible representative of the administration. Condescending, unconvincing, oafish and off-putting. I'm surprised the press hasn't torn into him harder.

[LeftisBetter]

11:17 AM on 04/19/2010

I'm sorry but it's the Press Corps that have been dreadful. The dumbing down of the news through the 24/7 channels leaves them with simply idiotic questions, made for 20s clips and framed for a left-right point of view. It's simply pathetic

[jkb5371]

11:41 AM on 04/19/2010

Exactly. He's awful.
And fanned.

[LenoFan]

10:10 AM on 04/19/2010

Is there anybody who this administration likes?

[jkb5371]

10:19 AM on 04/19/2010

Themselves.

[sydney01]

10:24 AM on 04/19/2010

Reporters who stick to the facts instead of getting into gossip. The White House Press Corp. used to have more integrity than the National Enquirer.

[tartentart]

09:55 AM on 04/19/2010

So would the white house press corps like some cheese with their "Whine"? As far as I'm concerned the White House press corp is getting what they deserve. The last eight years of payment for soft questions are gone so what do they expect? MSM is nothing but corporate media and it's not impressive, it's downright insulting! I will admit I dig Robert Gibbs! He like all the ones who came before him have a god awful job!