The Presidential Inaugural Committee has announced that President Obama's official swearing-in will be open to the press, allaying the concerns of the White House press corps that had feared restricted access.
"[T]here will be media access to the official swearing in on Sunday," a PIC representative told POLITICO. "We are still working out additional details and logistics and expect to be able to share more about media coverage plans for that ceremony and other Inaugural events soon."
The White House press corps had feared they would be restricted from Obama's official swearing-in, which takes place in a small, private ceremony on years that January 20 falls on a Sunday. Inaugural committee officials had privately indicated to reporters that the event could be closed to reporters and cameras, with an official photograph supplied to press by White House photographer Pete Souza, sources told POLITICO. A subsequent email from the PIC referring to the Jan. 20 swearing-in as a "private" event rekindled that concern.
Various White House reporters complained that press access to such an historic event was even under consideration. In a statement, White House Correspondents Association president and Fox News correspondent Ed Henry sought to put pressure on the PIC: "Mindful of the historic nature of this occasion, we expect the White House will continue the long tradition of opening the President’s official swearing-in to full press access, and we as an organization are looking forward to working with the administration to make that happen,” Henry said.
In an email to POLITICO today, C-SPAN senior executive producer and political editor Steve Scully called the PIC's announcement "very good news."
"The swearing-in of a president is one of the most important aspects of our Constitution, and the press simply wants to record this historic moment," he wrote. "After the POLITICO story was first published last Friday, the White House Press Office seemed quite open to accommodating the media, while still keeping this a small, private White House event."
I don't believe they ever truly planned on it not being public. I think this was a false flag operation that they let the press attack to mollify them. Or, they could have done it as a way to give cover to the press. In this instance a lot of press push-back makes the ill-informed believe that the mainstream media still has their best interests at heart. So the people stop paying attention believing that the press are actively watching and reporting on the Administration when that is not the case.
RIGHT'S RIGHT 
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Wed Dec 12, 2012 11:32 am
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