AB.com Guest Post: Obama Keeps Passin' Them By?!?

[AverageNation™ regular Ciara goes in on Obama vs The Black Press.]

The Washington Times (yes...that conservative counterpart to the Post) posted an article on their website claiming that Black members of the press felt shafted by Obama during his press conference on the economic stimulus plan last Monday night.



Not only do they feel neglected but they also feel that they were used as props.

After the first black president completed his first prime-time press conference, the black press was red hot.

"We were window dressing," said Hazel Edney, a reporter with the National Newspaper Publishers Association, also known as the Black Press of America. "We were nothing more than window dressing."

As the media filed into the stately White House East Room on Monday night, the reporter was shocked to find herself in the front row.
Alongside her were the top news agencies, Associated Press, Reuters; also up front, 86-year-old Helen Thomas, who started covering presidents 50 years ago.

Alongside the most prominent journalists in America was Tiffany Cross from Black Entertainment Television. Like Miss Edney, she didn't know why she was in first-class while all the television networks - every single one - was exiled to the steerage compartment.

"I really don't know why I'm up here," Miss Cross said with a shy smile.

While most on the front row got to pose a question to President Obama, the two reporters from the black press did not. Nor did any other black-press reporter, for that matter.

"This was like Reagan, when he'd put all the blacks up front," said another prominent but visibly peeved black-press reporter who asked to remain anonymous. "He oughta' be ashamed".

Of course the reporter from BET should be stunned. BET hasn't been a legitimate news organization since Ed Gordon's interview with Trent Lott.

As for whether no Black reporters were able to ask a question: that's false. Case in point is the gentleman [Ed: a WashPost reporter, btw] who asked that one riveting question: What should we do about steroids?

You don't really help your cause when the only "important" question you ask is "What is your reaction to Alex Rodriguez admitted that he used steroids?" Did my dude forget where he was? The American people only care about juicing our economy not whether A-Rod deserves our forgiveness. Situations like that don't help your chances in the future. What's next, asking Obama whether he thinks Kobe should be MVP during a press conference on Iraq?

In all reality, throughout the entire campaign, Obama has been very gracious to the Black press. This facade of anger is pretentious, petty and putrid. As a future member of the Black press fraternity, please let's do better.

Question: Does the Black press have a legitimate bone to pick with Obama, or should they just shut up and wait their turn?

Obama snubs Black press [The Washington Post]

More From Ciara at [The Sh*t Makes No Sense Blog]