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White House Press Corps Bristles at Jon Stewart’s Criticism

by Tommy Christopher | 8:50 am, June 10th, 2010

» 26 comments

On last night’s Daily Show, host Jon Stewart (or as I like to call him, “Respectable #37“) eviscerated the White House Press Corps over what he calls “jockeying” for Helen Thomas‘ front row seat, the Biden BBQ Brouhaha, and the quality of their questions. While the bit was hilarious (I especially loved the reference to whammy-rific game show “Press Your Luck“), I would like to point out a few things.

First, here’s Jon Stewart’s scathing piece:

The bristling here actually occurred in two stages: the press corps was bristling in advance, yesterday, at the “controversy” over the Biden Beach Bash, and as a member of the White House Press Corps, allow me to further bristle on these pages.

Let me first bristle at the notion that, on the occasion of the sad end to a longtime colleague’s career, we’re all ignoring the larger questions in favor of a slap-fight over her seat. Stewart expertly nails the deeper questions that the Helen Thomas story points up, and these are exactly the questions that are being chewed over in the Brady Briefing Room. With few exceptions, though, White House correspondents are reporters, not commentators, so those discussions remain in the briefing room.

Speculation over who would get Helen’s seat began moments after her retirement, but not by members of the press corps. This is evident in Stewart’s clip package, as well, but he gives the impression that Helen’s colleagues are sizing up her career’s gravesite for a new condo. That’s not what’s happening.

To the extent that there is any jockeying to be done, it won’t be done by White House reporters, but rather, the heads of their various news outlets. Among the press corps, the question has been thrust upon us, but to us, it is a tertiary issue. First of all, many have already made Stewart’s observation that there is no practical difference between the 2nd and front rows. Far more coveted is the bump from 4th row oblivion to the more question-friendly 3rd row.

Primarily, the seat is regarded with some reverence. When a photographer took a shot of Helen’s empty seat yesterday, most of the assembled reporters let out a wistful gasp, and more than one reporter remarked on the historic import of Helen’s perch. We are not a cadre of ghouls rifling through Helen’s pockets.

The Biden controversy was another topic of discussion around the briefing room yesterday. The prevailing attitude was to laugh it off as the overblown fretting of outsiders who don’t understand the value of off-the-record interaction, and who overestimate the soul-purchasing clout of a charbroiled cheeseburger. Those critics fail to recognize the value that reporters can deliver to their constituents, the American people, as a result of this kind of access. Off the record talk is referred to as “for guidance,” wherein a source will push something that he or she doesn’t want people to know is being pushed. But a good reporter can glean valuable insight into the source’s motivation, and has no obligation to be pushed.

I also pointed out Michael Triplett‘s observation that not all of those critics have clean hands:

Matthew Yglesias chimed in that reporters can get “captured by their sources” while officials become “unduly concerned about the press coverage they get.” Maybe Yglesias’ bosses at Obama’s favorite think tank and farm team for the administration–the Center for American Progress–can mention that next time they are invited to a State Dinner.

Finally, my chief complaint with Stewart’s roundup of silly-sounding questions is that I wasn’t included. I mean, come on, Stewart, I once asked Gibbs about the television show V, for f**k’s sake!

Seriously, though, that package misses the point on several counts. First of all, those questions are a minuscule portion of what gets asked, but more importantly, they have value. People are interested in this stuff, and as the 50th most important question at any given briefing, we don’t inflate their importance. If Jon Stewart wants to protest the effect of the profit motive on journalism, I expect we’d all be there with him.

Some of them are extremely newsworthy, as well. Jake Tapper‘s question on Michael Jackson, for example, was one of many questions that were asked on the subject that day, because Michael Jackson’s death was a huge story. The larger line of questioning, by Tapper and others, was why the President had not issued a written statement about the pop icon’s death. It’s a good question, because some deaths get written statements, while others don’t.

Still, as a humorist, Jon Stewart gets to manipulate footage to make a point, he has no duty to make his comedy bits double as comprehensive treatises on journalism. His larger point, that today’s news coverage is often superficial and inane, is a valid one. I would just argue that it’s not the fault of the White House press corps, but of news editors and producers, who ignore the substantive work we do in favor of fluff and meme-building.

daily show, Helen Thomas, Jake Tapper, Jon Stewart, Michael Jackson, Michael Triplett, Tommy Christopher, White House Press Corps

Liberty – Not Redistribution

Tommy wrote:
” First of all, those questions are a minuscule portion of what gets asked, but more importantly, they have value. People are interested in this stuff, and as the 50th most important question at any given briefing, we don’t inflate their importance.”

Uh…yeah I’m sure there are people who are interested in this stuff, just look at how many people buy “People” magazine or the “National Enquirer.” The fact is, such questions are silly, and irrelevant. I’d rather listen to Helen “Go Back To Poland” Thomas’s non-question questions. At least they were relatively serious and professional, while attempting to get some answers from a powerful government.

The Press Corps shmoozing with Rham and Biden is also unprofessional. My opinion of “journalists” continue to slide.
The Real Royal King

I’m not sure I think that Stewart was that far off, Tommy. At some point, journalists decided that they wanted to be media stars. One of the prime examples of that phenomenon is David Gregory. I find him to be a self-absorbed gas bag these days, and I hate what he has done to “MTP”. But this didn’t begin with Gregory. I sadly watched Cokie Roberts succumb to this same phenomenon. Generally, if a newsman becomes the news, he is no longer a newsman.
Liberty – Not Redistribution

Good point King. There also apears to be a conflict when an unusually high number of “journalists” quick their reporting and start working for the administration. Although they have the right to do such things, it stinks of conflict of interest.
Burnnotice

HA HA Jon. Spot on as usual!
paulmdoro

Didn’t that happen under Bush too, with people like Tony Snow?
Liberty – Not Redistribution

paulmdoro says:
“Didn’t that happen under Bush too, with people like Tony Snow?”

Yes it did, and it was wrong then, and wrong now. While no one should tell a private company who they can/can’t hire, or tell a private individual who they can work for, it still stinks.
goodolgil

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/06/07/washington/index.html
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jeff-Jackie/100000824834645 Jeff Jackie

Here’s a question Christopher and the rest of the suckup press will never ask (that they would have pounded away on if it were Boosh)…

Do you think it’s appropriate for the president to have golfed 7 times during this crisis?
paulmdoro

Was it appropriate for Bush to attend a fundraiser in San Diego after Katrina? Was it appropriate for him to spend nearly 20% of his two terms on vacation, during which there were two wars and a worsening economy? I just don’t remember hearing those complaints from the right during the period of 2000 – 2008.
shootfromthehip

What do you want Obama to do? Get in a mini submarine and dive down a mile underwater and fix the leak himself?

Once again, this is a PRIVATE COMPANY (BP) FUCKUP.

If Obama took a Navy destroyer down to the oil rig the 1st week you cons woukd have been SCREAMING that Obama is nationalizing the oil industry and taking over the military telling a private company how to do their business.
sarainitaly

“Still, as a humorist, Jon Stewart gets to manipulate footage to make a point, he has no duty to make his comedy bits double as comprehensive treatises on journalism.”

Tommy – This is what Stewart does NIGHTLY. He takes snippets, usually from FOX, out of context, or old, and splices them together to create a comedy bit.

The problem is that many (mostly on the Left) think it is representative of the actual news on FOX, when it isn’t.
It is exactly like he just did to you guys in this bit.

Exactly the same thing.

It is comedy. And if people would quit taking it so seriously, and just laugh and enjoy the skits, and recognize them as COMEDY skits, we would all be better off. People use his skits as evidence that FOX is evil, when, as you clearly see here, he took things and twisted them to make a funny skit. (There are people who actually consider him a news source!!)

He clearly goes after the right more than the left, and that’s where he loses a lot of people. I think if he were less partisan, he would have a much larger audience., because his stuff is very funny.
Puter Boi

T.C.?
It would seem that off-the-record sources could be developed without attending frat parties with them. The fact that some in the press room would laugh off the fretting of some of us “outsiders”, perhaps reveals unintentionally what is wrong in the news business these days….and demonstrates that maybe the folks in the press room are really the outsiders.
JohnSimpson

The bigger question is who gets her parking space.
The Real Royal King

Tommy – This is what Stewart does NIGHTLY. He takes snippets, usually from FOX, out of context, or old, and splices them together to create a comedy bit.

—

I’d have to see the statistics on this point. Seems to me that all of the broadcast and cable news networks get skewered. Deservedly so. If FOX has an edge here, and I’m not saying it does, it’s probably only because of its inherent silliness. I mean, really. Douchey, the Gretch, Glen(n), Greta Van Palin, Sean O’Hannity …. Always comedic …!
sarainitaly

“George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are long gone. Fox News Channel is Jon Stewart’s new enemy No. 1.

According to “The Daily Show” Web site, thedailyshow.com, Fox News has been a subject of 24 segments so far this year, including eight in the month of April. The lower-rated news channel CNN, by contrast, has been a subject of five segments this year.

It is true that the often-left-leaning “Daily Show” deals with a wide array of topics, but Fox is one that Mr. Stewart is overtly passionate about.

His staff members regularly dismiss claims that “The Daily Show” is a form of journalism. “I have not moved out of the comedian’s box into the news box,” Mr. Stewart said on the show on Tuesday, adding, “The news box is moving toward me.””

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/arts/television/24stewart.html
http://www.facebook.com/people/Tommy-Christopher/1054638341 Tommy Christopher

Puter,

by outsiders, I mean to the profession. While you’re right that “off-the-record sources could be developed without attending frat parties with them,” it would be foolish to avoid such an opportunity without a good reason, especially when your competitor won’t have such qualms.
lonestar77

While I would bet my paycheck that Tapper votes straight ticket Dem, he’s the only member of the press corps that I wouldn’t parlay my house & kids in betting that every other member (at least in the 1st couple rows) votes str8 dem. Unfortunately, no body cares about the WH press corps anymore. The quality of their questions depends on whether the Pres. is a black liberal or any color Republican.
ex political-media hack

Ive been in politics all my life and worked in/with the media for 1/2 of that and i have found the political comics to be the smartest people – about politics and life in general – of anyone else from the political and media crowd.

Stwart, Will durst, Lewis Black and even uber mean and on the money media critic and former standup Bob Somerby – all these guys have IQs and knowledge of political history and real strategy that is basically double that of your average WH reporter. (the WH and DC press corps is more interested in staying on approved insider script on any issue than actually doing any real reporting)

This piece by Stewart is his second most important performance ever – only eclipsed by his show killing “stop hurting America” -performance on Crossfire.

As is obvious from anyone who has read young Tommy here before – he is a perfect example of an ambitious wannabee insider twit. If you didnt know this before in this piece alone he shows his low watted desire to be a member of the DC insiders cool kids club is very evident. From his proud blogger claim that he too is now ” a member of the White House Press Corps” to this cluelesssly blinded statement about those stoopid news consumers who are so hick like – “The prevailing attitude was to laugh it off as the overblown fretting of outsiders who don’t understand …” and his contempt for ‘regular folk” is quite obvious. In that he is ready for admission to the inside of the media villager’s Versailles.

Tommy who blames all the problems with the media on the editors and producers – doesnt even get that Stewart is attacking the insecure neediness of those in the DC press corps whose number one motivation is to suck up to those above them (at the WH or inside the press corps itself) so that they can switch jobs, get their faces on as many cable shows on possible and dream of the day when they are at the Wash post, the NYTimes or dream of dreams – can get their own tv show. (who wants to bet thats Tommy here’s hope of hopes?)

Thats what Stewart was getting at – and poor tommy here – has no clue or self awareness about how he proves Stewarts point just by posting this confused and whiny “column” .
Puter Boi

T.C.?
Perhaps I’m being naive….but it would seem to me that if a source who had actual news to reveal… wanted to select a person they could trust, they would be more inclined to go to a news person who wasn’t pictured fraternizing with the power structure. I am not speaking of sources who are plying you with talking points, I am thinking of real people in real government jobs who actually see what’s going on and who want to help the system run better.
Frat parties aren’t inherently bad, I suppose….but the longer lasting perception they create could be damaging.
ex political-media hack

from the great glen greenwalds piece on the biden beach bash – “Our hard-core, adversarial press corps”

Do you think David Halberstam would have played water sports with Rahm Emanuel and then proudly giggled about it afterward on his Twitter feed:

One of the things I learned, the easiest of lessons, was that the better you do your job, often going against conventional mores, the less popular you are likely to be. (So, if you seek popularity, this is probably not the profession for you.).

There are a few things I would like to pass on to you as I come near to the end of my career.

One: It’s not about fame. By and large, the more famous you are, the less of a journalist you are. . . .

Somewhere in there, gradually, but systematically, there has been an abdication of responsibility within the profession, most particularly in the networks. . . . .So, if we look at the media today, we ought to be aware not just of what we are getting, but what we are not getting; the difference between what is authentic and what is inauthentic in contemporary American life and in the world, with a warning that in this celebrity culture, the forces of the inauthentic are becoming more powerful all the time.
roxsteady

Nice try but, asking the President about Michael Jackson is pure bullshit! These questions are best left to Access Hollywood and Extra. The White House Press Corps are a joke!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Kam-Fet/572005492 Kam Fet

They are a disgrace to their profession. She’s barely gone for a week and they are fighting for her seats. Shameful, very shameful.
Sean68

Hope that old bat wore her Depends!
Jelperman

The White House press corps gives brown-nosers a bad name.
Paula

At least Stewart had the courage to at least broach the issue of America’s slavish devotion to thewhatever the criminal thug hacks in the Knesset deem “necessary” for Israel’ “survival”, no matter how vile, no matter inhumane, racist, or illegal. Of course, with Zionist extremists occupying the leadership of virtually all of America’s media, there can be no follow-up and no American reportage of the Palestinian’s suffering. Any question about Israel or Israeli policy is, of course, immediately silenced and the political heretic figuratively burned at the stake. (Ask Helen Thomas or former Rep. Jim Moran, among the scores of victims.)

The rest of the world, though, sees the Palestinian suffering of course (their media is not as beholden to Zionist interests as ours) which is among the reasons America is so hated in so many countries in the world.
http://www.pmm.nl Ron C. de Weijze

This is the opposite of Apartheid, which is originally a Dutch word. So let’s call this Vriendjespolitiek (“politics of friends”).