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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.”“I think given the fact that this picture of them taking pictures was now pushed out, I almost wonder if this wasn’t just a set up?” said Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, who worked on a draft of the letter. “See, we give everybody access, what’s the problem?” he said the White House was trying to say.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.”BagNewsNotes, a website that analyzes images, was the first to notice Friday’s Oval Office picture and called the White House “incredibly petty” for putting it out, arguing that photojournalists should have been offered the opportunity to capture President Obama doing something personal, instead of another staged photo-op.Keep reading…
it was an equivalent to a middle finger
Sheesh, c'mon, don't they have a shred of self-respect? The way the let this administration treat them is sad to watch. They really need to get off their needs and stand up to this petty bitch Obama.
I wonder if they are even real photographers.