On Friday morning, President Obama delivered another press conference in the Brady Briefing Room to talk about the contentious negotiations over raising the debt limit. Presidential pressers in the briefing room offer a completely different dynamic from a more formal East Room press conference. They’re more crowded, with a looser, on-our-turf atmosphere. Here’s a glimpse of some of what you didn’t see on TV.

At Wednesday’s White House briefing, Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that this afternoon’s debt ceiling meeting with Congressional leaders would be restricted to a still only “pool spray” at the top of the meeting, and closed to reporters. Carney complained that the last time reporters had been allowed in one of these meetings, they had shouted questions at the President. The response didn’t sit well with CBS News’ Chip Reid, so he, and several others, challenged Carney on the media shutout.

On Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz was eager to praise MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell for taking on NBC (his boss) and demanding to know from them what Donald Trump‘s future plans were. However, two journalists on Kurtz’s panel warned him that even if O’Donnell was sincere, his outage could be viewed as a tactic to generate publicity.

One bit of TV lingo that every White House reporter knows is the “standup,” those man-of-action interviews that use some White House setting as a backdrop. Sure, it looks easy, but as ABC News’ Jake Tapper and CBS News’ Chip Reid demonstrated before Tuesday’s Presidential press conference on the budget, there’s more there than meets the eye.

Normally, “standups” are done individually, but often, before press conferences, there will be a cacophony of reporters doing standups, and while they do have the aid of an earpiece, it’s hard to imagine this doesn’t get a little bit distracting:

The Obama White House sent Robert Gibbs to brief reporters on the evolving situation in Egypt, but at least one member of the White House press corps was curious why President Obama himself hadn’t come to face the cameras. “Why is the president not standing where you’re standing right now,” asked CBS’ Chip Reid. Gibbs, who spent most of the briefing sticking to a very narrow set of talking points, responded that the White House–and the president–were “monitoring a very fluid situation.”

With the announcement Wednesday morning that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will soon be moving on to a role outside the White House, the next big question is: Who will succeed him? There have been a few names kicked around, but the smart money is on Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton, and with the [...]

On the heels of this morning’s announcement that he will be leaving the White House, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fielded many questions regarding his future, and his possible successor. Gibbs played it characteristically close to the vest, divulging very little in the way of new information, but he spoke about his plans, and at one point, seemed poised to get a little misty when talking about the relationships he has formed during his tenure.

For many years, progressives have lamented the inability of the Democrats to play the kind of legislative hardball that helped the Bush administration enact a nation-transforming agenda, even though they never held anywhere near the majority the Dems currently do. That frustration was ably expressed at today’s White House briefing, as reporters quizzed Robert Gibbs on why the Democrats haven’t even introduced a bill to extend middle-class tax cuts, while allowing cuts for the wealthy to expire.

As expected, the topic of the day at today’s White House briefing was Shirley Sherrod. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fielded many questions on her ouster, apologizing on behalf of the administration for what he rightly called an “injustice.” In a dramatic turn, Jake Tapper informed Gibbs that Sherrod was watching the briefing, and Gibbs directed his apology to her. Tapper also pointed out that he (among others) had performed due diligence before acting on the story (unlike Secretary Tom Vilsack). See the remarkable exchange below.

Over the weekend, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel drew fire from Sarah Palin when he remarked at length that Rep. Joe Barton‘s (R-TX) apology to BP was representative of her party’s governing philosophy. At today’s White House briefing, I asked Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton (Robert Gibbs was watching the World Cup) if he could give us a relatively uncensored readout of Rahm’s reaction. Before responding, he said “If only Vice President Biden were here today…”

Since Barack Obama first burst onto the national scene, many have complimented him for his thoughtful and dispassionate demeanor (remember those Spock comparisons?). However, with the oil spill in the Gulf getting worse by the day, many are starting to wish for a little more fire from the president. So, when Robert Gibbs mentioned that Obama was “enraged” about the spill, CBS’ Chief White House Correspondent Chip Reid wanted to know if that was true and if, perhaps, there wasn’t enough rage from the administration directed at BP, the company who seemed to be lying to them.

Anyone who doubts the toughness of the White House Press Corps needs to watch this. At today’s White House briefing, Robert Gibbs took a barrage of questions regarding the administration’s involvement in the response to the BP Oil Spill. Gibbs maintained that, while BP is responsible for the cost and direction of the recovery effort, the government has exercised strong oversight.

Earlier today, President Obama signed the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, which directs the State Department to compile and maintain a list of countries where violations of press freedoms occur. The signing was open to pooled press only, and toward the end of the signing, CBS News’ Chip Reid tried to get the President to answer some questions about the Gulf Oil Spill. In an intended (on Reid’s part) irony, the President refused to answer questions at the signing of the Freedom of the Press Act. I caught up with Chip after today’s briefing to ask him about it.

The Washington Post did a lengthy profile on Robert Gibbs, from which the Huffington Post gleaned a list of the six biggest press corps complaints about Gibbs. There are some fair criticisms, some of which have been echoed on the record here at Mediaite, but much of the criticism of Gibbs is simply built into the divergent roles of Press Secretary and reporter.

Following the passing of health care reform, the GOP has pledged to hinder future items on the Obama administration’s agenda. Most notably, Senator John McCain claimed that he will no longer work with Democrats and the White House on any issue. “There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year. They have poisoned the well in what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.” Today, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs compared those words to that of his six-year-old child.

One of the reasons I started the “Inside the White House Press Corps” series was so that people could see a different side of the people who play a large part in guiding the American political narrative. In this preview of my interview with NBC Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd, we see a more animated figure than we’re used to, discussing the “Drudge Effect” (my phrase) in journalism.

Someone on Twitter recently directed a question at Jake Tapper and me: Where did the President donate his Nobel Prize money? Included was a link to a Big Government post that alleged that he had already received the money.

Of course, we knew the answer to that one, as Robert Gibbs addressed this question a couple of weeks ago. Or did he?

Do you feel like you haven’t seen Pres. Obama doing enough media appearances and interviews? Probably not. But that’s because he’s gone through other means – a YouTube Q&A, a college basketball broadcast – in addition to one-off interviews on broadcast networks. And this strategy is not making the White House press corps who covers the President the most very happy.

Since joining the White House beat on the eve of Barack Obama‘s inauguration, CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Chip Reid has distinguished himself as one of the toughest questioners in the Brady Briefing Room.

In this edition of Inside the White House Press Corps, Chip speaks frankly about the role of the Press Secretary, compares the Obama White House to the Bush administration, and much more.

There was a funny bit of back-and-forth at yesterday’s White House press briefing in which Press Secretary Robert Gibbs accused the press corps of having called the President “overexposed,” resulting in some crossfire and several straw polls that indicated, among other things, that I’m one of only 3 or 4 White House reporters who want to win the lottery. Beneath the jocularity, however, lies a legitimate media criticism.

The sparks kicked up by C-Span’s request to televise healthcare negotiations have erupted into a firestorm, as White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was grilled about the President’s campaign promise of complete transparency, and responded testily. CNN’s Jack Cafferty delivered a stinging j’accuse to President Obama, calling the pledge a “lie just to get elected.”

Senator Max Baucus‘ appointment of his girlfriend, Melodee Hanes, to the office of U.S. Attorney has the markings of a bona fide political scandal, yet the media’s coverage has been lukewarm. When Howard Kurtz asked why this might be on Reliable Sources, here was the answer he resoundingly got: the scandal wasn’t sexy enough.