The day of the inauguration, Kat, Wally, Ava and C.I. (and Kat's niece and nephew) were among those taking a tour of the White House and one of the things the incoming administration was especially proud of was not just the physical White House but the virtual White House.
Online, they'd made major alterations that went beyond using the shades of blue and white from the campaign website. "We're going to have a blog, see here's our first post . . .," Wally and Kat remember being told in a series of fast mouse clicks. C.I. and a friend (reporter) asked, "Where's the press briefing?"
Hmm.
Click. Click. Click.
"Here it is," they were told, "there's not been a press briefing yet but here's where they will go."
Uh, no, C.I. and the reporter pointed out, they won't go there.
That folder is labeled "pool report."
A pool report is not a press briefing. One can write up a pool report on a press briefing. But the standard is that the White House provides a transcript of the press briefing. Not only that, but the previous administration provided both a transcript and a video.
"Oh. We'll be doing that. I promise you."
When?
"As soon as we hold the first press briefing."
That didn't happen.
Despite the fact that the press briefings had been eliminated online, Danny Schechter (News "Dissector") would write a rave review the week of the inauguration on the White House website's makeover. Uh, Dan, how'd you miss the fact that there were no press briefings?
A reporter friend of C.I.'s missed the January 27th White House press briefing due to having to double up on assignments and having an interview scheduled at the same time. Fine, no, problem. The reporter would read over the transcript and question some reporters attending. Couldn't do that.
Despite the claim that there would be web folder for press briefings, despite the claim that as soon as a press briefing was held it would be posted, it didn't happen.
January 28th, the White House realized they had a problem on their hands and finally added the press briefing folder and all the press briefings going back to January 22nd.
January 27th, C.I. addressed the issue in the snapshot.
The following afternoon, Wally and Kat heard (paraphrase) C.I. say into the cell phone, "Call off the dogs? What are you talking about? [. . .] If you're getting s**t for not posting the press briefings, that's on you. They should be posted. Reporters need those. They need them when they check their notes, they need them if they're unable to attend. That's not even counting -- Read that one back. No, no TCI community member would have written that, we didn't support Barack. But yeah, it does make Barack look back and it would appear his 'staff' are undermining him and making him look 'politics as usual'."
At the end of the conversation, C.I. agreed to post a link to the White House press briefings on the permalinks but, "I've got a hearing to cover in the snapshot. I don't have time to update. What do you want me to say? 'Congrats, we shamed the White House into doing their damn job'? I'll mention it in a snapshot later in the week or next week."
The press was complaining on Tuesday to the White House (some were friends of C.I.'s) and the snapshot caught some attention leading to complaints (and some obviously non TCI community members must have noticed on their own because the complaints increased -- prior to Tuesday, the White House had already logged at least 30 complaints from citizens -- non-press -- about the removal of the press briefings). After Barack's infamous first appearance in the press room ('You are asking me questions! How dare you ask me questions!'), the White House was worried about having another press problem on their hands so quickly. Don't worry, they'll have plenty of problems. That's what happens when you try to govern in secret. (Click here for the most recent example.)
Our belief is that the White House was not planning to offer a transcript. They were planning to offer a pool report. That is also the suspicion of some in the press. Why?
Because Barack doesn't like a public record.
It's easy to say, "The White House never said that!" . . . if there's no record. A pool report? The press writes a pool report. Therefore the White House could say, "We were misquoted." A transcript released by the White House is on the White House. They are responsible.
Until January 28th, the White House got away without posting their press briefings (the first one took place January 22nd) and you might ask yourself why your watchdogs failed to catch that? Most of all, you might ask why Barack Obama's White House wanted to get away with more secrecy than George W. Bush's -- why and how they actually thought they could?