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 Robert Gibbs Provides Transparency - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 1/22/09 — Sunday, January 25, 2009 —  Full 1/22/09 Press Briefing Transcript Press Sec.: Bill – I'm sorry – yes?Bill Plante: [CBS] How is it transparent when you control the only image of the reswearing. There's nobody in there [before] press reporters; there's no stills; there's no television. And the only recording that comes out, as I understand it, is one that a reporter made, not one that the White House supplied. And how is it transparent when it looks like pay-to-play when the President gives his only interview on inauguration night to a network which paid $2 million for the privilege of exclusive coverage of an event – the [neighborhood] ball? Press Sec.: Let me take your questions separately there. I think that – again, I think the procedures yesterday with which we brought in a print pool and released a photo provided the documentation of exactly what happened yesterday afternoon. Bill Plante: But it's your photo. It's not a photo made by the journalists who cover the White House. Press Sec.: No, but I think that...I encourage you to speak to any of the four journalists that were in there. I think the pool report accurately reflects the events and the time [that] was in there. I think that's what the pool is normally charged with doing. Bill Plante: No argument. Press Sec.: Good. [All right.] Bill Plante: But we have a tradition... We have a tradition here of covering the President. Press corps: [Speaker unidentified] _____ only had four people at an event that everyone _____. Press Sec.: Well, we'd had to get a bigger room. Press corps: [Speaker unidentified] Well, you could've had more than four. Press Sec.: Well, let... Yeah. Let me...the second question – you know – the.. We've done interviews throughout the transition process. We've done...we've answered questions from reporters, and no interview is decided on by me or anybody else who works for the President based on who might sponsor an activity. Bill Plante | Open Government | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | White House Press Corps Labels: Bill Plante, Open Government, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 6:39:00 PM 
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