Thursday, July 02, 2009

Bernstein: It’s Time for the Press to Stop Whining

Famed White House reporter Carl Bernstein Thursday claimed “the press needs to stop whining” during an MSNBC’s Morning Joe segment on Wednesday’s heated exchange between columnist Helen Thomas and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

“One of the reasons why we have such an abbreviated news diet of real news and real stories is because we allow these guys, whether it’s Gibbs or his predecessor in the Bush White House, to set out agenda,” Bernstein continued. “It’s crazy.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” retorted MSNBC political director Chuck Todd. “That is not true.”

During the exchange, Todd almost claimed that the daily White House press briefing is just a show, just before stopping himself.

“You know the press briefing is nothing more … you know, I don’t want to say it’s a show,” said Todd. “It’s not a show. There are ways to get information out of there.”

“My only point,” retorted Bernstein, “is that it’s really unseemly for us to be putting on this act about how we’re victimized.”

Does anyone recall such introspection during the Bush administration?

There’s so much to chew on in this clip about the role of the press, I suspect Peter and I will be noodling it all day.

Exit question: If the White House press briefing is “nothing more than a show” did the Obama administration do anything wrong by coordinating with HuffPo on the now-infamous Iran question?

Topics: obama, msnbc, chuck-todd, helen-thomas, carl-berstein