Why Is Rahm Emanuel Holding Secret Briefings With CNN’s James Carville and Paul Begala, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, And Pollster Stan Greenberg..Yet We Can’t Get Transcripts Of The Entire Daily Press Briefings?
trans·par·ent (trans per??nt, -par?-)
adjective
- transmitting light rays so that objects on the other side may be distinctly seen; capable of being seen through; neither opaque nor translucent
- so fine in texture or open in mesh that objects on the other side may be seen relatively clearly; sheer; gauzy; diaphanous
- easily understood; very clear
- easily recognized or detected; obvious
- without guile or concealment; open; frank; candid
I think all of us would agree that I offered a common definition of the word transparent. It appears that Obama doesn’t understand this. His Chief Of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, has been holding daily chit chat sessions with several Old Media pals every morning to start his day. Those pals include CNN’s James Carville and Paul Begala, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, and pollster Stan Greenberg.
As Politico’s John Harris notes, “in any given news cycle, it is quite likely that Washington’s prevailing political and media interpretation — at least on the Democratic side — is being hatched on these calls.” In light of this early morning scheming, one has to wonder where the supposed autonomy of the media is if they are being programed by the Obama White House in off the record, secret and daily conversations? Where is their objectivity if these media mavens are all assisting Emanuel mould and shape the news to further a specific ideological goal?
Even worse, where are the people that would normally decry a chummy, personal and secretive relationship between Emanuel, a partisan government operative recently called the second most powerful man in Washington, and major members of the Old Media? Where’s the outrage that the Obama administration is secretly programing media coverage?
Ed Morrissey of HotAir reminds us of the Old Media outcry that was raised when it was thought that the Pentagon held briefings for analysts that reported on military affairs.
Last April, The New York Times rebuked the Pentagon for offering information to analysts as a sort of breach of the public trust and reported the angry words of Democrat Ike Skelton (D- MO) on the matter.
Representative Ike Skelton, Democrat of Missouri and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a speech on Thursday that he and many other members of Congress were “very angry” about the issues raised by the article. “The story does not reflect well on the Pentagon, on the military analysts in question, or on the media organizations that employ them,” he said.
As Skelton said in April, the cozy relationship the TV analysts had with the Pentagon called those analyst’s veracity into question. If this concept was true last April, then the same absolutely must be said of Carville, Begala and Greenberg, and even more so of ABC’s George Stephanopoulos who is supposed to be a “news” man as opposed to an opinionist as Carville and Begala are.
Speaking of secret briefings, WhiteHousePressCorps.org Also Annoyed by Transcript-free WhiteHouse.gov
NewsBusters and the Weekly Standard’s Mary Katharine Ham are not the only critics of the Obama administration for its failure to transcribe, publish and archive the daily press briefings held by press secretary Robert Gibbs.
A Web site called WhiteHousePressCorps.org is running a graphic at the top of its main page which reads, “Waiting on the official release of the 1/22/2009 Press Briefing transcript for” followed by a ticker counting up from January 22. You can also track them on Twiter @whpresscorps.
The site, which features archives of White House press gaggle and briefing transcripts dating back to February 2006, describes itself as “an independent media watchdog source providing information and commentary on the relationship between the press and the White House” that is not affiliated with the White House Correspondents’ Association.
Here’s how the guys at WHPC reacted to a carefully excerpted press briefing posted to the WhiteHouse.gov site on Monday:
After 4 days and 4 hours the whitehouse.gov web site finally released transcripts of a press briefing. Well, not exactly, as it turns out.
“Selected responses” to Monday’s (1/26/09) Press Briefing at long last appeared on the blog portion of the White House web site in more of an apparent effort to control the narrative than to live up to the promise of open transparency much ballyhooed by the Obama Administration.
And if that weren’t bad enough, the blog entry claims that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ third press conference held today is his “second press briefing.” Careless in small things, careless in great things.
So far, a major FAIL by the White House Press Office in providing information to the public in a timely and open manner.
So much for transparancy!
Linked with:
Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, DragonLady’s World, Leaning Straight Up, Cao’s Blog, Wingless – Sura 5:32 – When Killing isn’t Murder, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, Political Byline, third world county, Allie is Wired, Wingless – What Lead to Cast Lead, The World According to Carl, Wingless – Cuba: Beautiful Country, People…Not so Beautiful System…, Rosemary’s News and Ideas, The Pink Flamingo, and Wingless, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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January 29, 2009 - 01:04 PM on January 29th, 2009
I have linked to your post from Rahm Emanuel and Obama’s Transparency Commitment
January 29, 2009 - 03:58 PM on January 29th, 2009
Thanks Wayne!
January 30, 2009 - 07:53 PM on January 30th, 2009
INDEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 31, 2009 - 06:12 AM on January 31st, 2009
Well what do ya know. Another lieing politician. But I guess it’s okay. After all, he’s from Illinois and he’s a democrat. What can we expect?
Great catch. Thanks.