This week, 38 members of the mainstream media filed an official complaint with Press Secretary Jay Carney over the fact that the White House has repeatedly snubbed them when it comes to photos. Rather than rely on photojournalists, the Obama administration likes to release its own photos of President Obama in action. The unofficial White House response to this complaint was what one member of the media called the “middle finger”:
Friday’s White House “Photo of the Day” seems fairly innocuous at first glance. President Obama, in the Oval Office, is surrounded by eight photojournalists as he signs a bill into law.
But that particular photo comes courtesy of the White House just one day after 38 news organizations and journalistic institutions, en masse, penned a letter of protest to Press Secretary Jay Carney, asking that the Obama administration stop simply sending out their own photos and allow more access to photographers and videographers.
Some journalists interpreted Friday’s photo as the White House attempting to sweep the issue under the rug, while others figured it a subliminal “screw you.” …
Julie Mason, SiriusXM POTUS press pool host and former White House Correspondents’ Association board member, saw Friday’s photo and suggested it was an equivalent to a middle finger, a snub and an eye roll. “All of that, plus a drop of anxiety,” Mason wrote in an email. “Behold how sensitive the White House is to claims they shut the press out.”
As we have seen throughout the last five years, regardless of how this White House treats them, the media will always debase themselves to win Barack Obama’s love. It is the saddest case of Battered Media Syndrome on record and, when it comes to our democracy, the most dangerous.
The media covered up for ObamaCare, Benghazi, the economy, and looked the other way when it came to the IRS harassment of Tea Party groups. Currently the media are covering up the next wave of insurance cancellations scheduled to hit the employer market next year.
The media keep making fools of themselves begging for Obama to stop abusing them. But his response is always the same: a middle finger.
And why not? So far it has gotten him everything he wants.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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