President Barack Obama on Monday lashed out at U.S. reporters for failing to “dig deeper and to demand more” from the current crop of presidential candidates. Members of the press quickly bit back at the leader of the “most transparent” administration in U.S. history.
“The No. 1 question I am getting as I travel around the world or talk to world leaders right now is, ‘What is happening to America?’ ” Obama said Monday during an awards ceremony for Syracuse University’s Toner Prize.
According to Obama, the nation’s political situation is important to the entire world.
“We are all invested in making this system work. We are all responsible for its success, and it’s not just for the United States that this matters, it matters for the planet,” Obama said.
The president challenged reporters to ask tougher questions of candidates rather than “feed the beast” with gossip and soft news.
“A job well done is about more than just handing someone a microphone. It’s to probe and to question and to dig deeper and to demand more,” Obama said. “The electorate would be better served if that happened. It would be better served if billions of dollars in free media came with serious accountability, especially when politicians issue unworkable plans or make promises they cannot keep.”
For many journalists, this was a huge insult coming from a president whose administration has gone out of its way to avoid the media by giving information to handpicked favorites and running outright propaganda campaigns via its own media creations.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough called Obama out during his show Tuesday morning.
“There’s a man lecturing the media on how to do their business,” he said. “The man who has not sat down for an extended interview with the Washington Post in seven and a half years and … gladly submits himself to being interviewed by YouTube stars who sit in bathtubs with milk and Fruitloops.”
Guardian’s U.S. national security reporter Spencer Ackerman also took notice, saying via Twitter: “Always great to hear a lecture on real reporting from Obama as I get an expedited-processing FOIA denial from an inspector general’s office.”
Buzzfeed News editor Miriam Elder said she cared “roughly 0% how Obama thinks journalists can do their jobs better.”
Politico’s Marc Caputo also weighed in, tweeting: “Obama admin. slow-walks Freedom of Information requests, limits press access/plays favorites, prosecutes reporters, then he lectures journalists.”
We’ve been covering the Obama White House’s anti-press schemes for a while; here are just a few examples of why these reporters have a point:
Obama’s Administration Less Transparent In 2010, AP Reports
Obama Should Blame Bush, Thank Whistle-Blowers And Keep Up The Bad Work
Trying (and trying) to get records from the ‘most transparent administration’ ever
White House celebrates Sunshine Week by announcing key office is not subject to FOIA
Watchdogs turn to Congress to combat Obama’s miserable transparency record
Federal Judge Seeks To Thwart Obama’s Hypocritical Use Of ‘State Secrets’ Provision
GAO: Government Needs To Fix Transparency Flaws
Press keeps pleading with ‘transparent’ Obama White House to loosen its grip on media access
Washington Reporters Say Obama Administration Is Least Transparent Since Nixon
The post Reporters fire back after ‘most transparent’ president’s lecture on journalism appeared first on Personal Liberty®.
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