President Obama had a pre-arranged question with Huffington Post reporter Nico Pitney during the White House press breifing.
Michael Calderone of the Politico reports:
“Reporters typically don’t coordinate their questions for the president before press conferences, so it seemed odd that Obama might have an idea what the question would be. Also, it was a departure from White House protocol by calling on The Huffington Post second, in between the AP and Reuters. […]
UPDATE: Deputy press secretary Bill Burton responds: “We did reach out to him prior to press conference to tell him that we had been paying attention to what he had been doing on Iran and there was a chance that he’d be called on. And, he ended up asking the toughest question that the President took on Iran. In the absence of an Iranian press corps in Washington, it was an innovative way to get a question directly from an Iranian.”
UPDATE 2: Knoller, again via Twitter: “Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney says the WH called him this morning and invited him to ask his Iran questions at the news conference.”
UPDATE 3: Pitney says the White House reached out about his Iran coverage, but only said it was possible he’d get a question.
It’s currently unknown if other reporters received a similar treatment. You can read the rest of Calderone’s piece here. Does this raise questions of objectivity in regards to the Huffington Post, and it’s desire to go mainstream?
