Press Secretary Jay Carney handles scripted questions, submitted in advance
While the press is suppose to perform as a watchdog over the government, recent revelations from an Arizona reporter reveal that the White House press briefings are scripted with questions submitted and approved in advance.
photo White House press office
Here’s the first quote from Catherine Anaya of Phoenix, Eyeball News at 5, KPHO-TV.
“Um, and then he also mentioned that, um, a lot of times, unless it’s something breaking, the questions that the reporters actually asked were the correspondents’, they were provided him in advance. So then he knows what he’s going to be answering, and sometimes those correspondents and reporters also have those answers printed in front of them. Because, of course, it helps when they’re producing their reports for later on. So that was very interesting,” she says of the behind-the-scenes look.
“If only this were true,” Jay Carney told press the following day.
Anaya back peddled as well, trying to save face for the White House:
“As a local journalist I had no issue providing my proposed question in advance,” she told MailOnline, “because I wanted to make sure it was an appropriate q[uestion] for a national briefing and I wanted to make sure it was appropriate for Mr. Carney. [B]ut in discussing it with a staff member the night before, we decided I would save it for the president. I was attempting to not waste national time on a local question, but in my attempt at explaining that I unintentionally made it sound like that experience applied to everyone.”
“That is my mistake,” Anaya added, “and I own up to it.”
Anaya also discussed the four minutes reporters get with President Obama and how they count that down.
Here’s a great summary and coverage of the story:
