White House Press Corps rebukes Robert Gibbs over Administration's media control

July 3, 9:31 PMBaltimore Republican ExaminerSean O'Donnell

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                           (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Washington, D.C. – Earlier this week the White House Press Corps drilled Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, over preselected audiences and prepackaged questions during President Obama’s current Town Hall speeches.

Town Halls are supposed to be open forums made up of the general public to ask questions to elected officials.

Chip Reid of ABC News and Helen Thomas of Hearst Corporation led the scolding of Gibbs, going back and forth demanding answers to their inquiries.

Reid called the Town Hall questions and audiences “tightly controlled” by the Obama Administration. Reid also stated that Obama’s current Town Halls weren’t as open as the Town Halls during the 2008 campaign.

One Press Corps journalist wondered where the “dissenting views” were in the questions being asked to Obama during the Town Halls.

Instead of addressing the journalists’ concerns, Gibbs laughed at them and attempted to delay speaking about the subject.

Thomas responded by passionately stating, “No, no, no. We’re having [the discussion] now.” She then called the Administration’s media control “shocking.”

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