Gibbs avoids question about 'fairness'

President Obama's chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, today several times deflected a line of questions trying to find out about his view of blessing a select few reporters in the White House press corps with a majority of his attention.

Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, has reported several times on the high number of questions allowed for select news organizations such as NPR and ABC, while other reporters rarely are recognized by Gibbs for a question.

The issue came to a head today because there were others who had raised the issue.

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The exchange:

Kinsolving: "Could you tell us if, as you said yesterday in the briefing…"

Gibbs: "Uh-oh."

Kinsolving, "…quote, 'the president is committed to ensuring fairness…"

Gibbs: "I can confirm to you that the president is committed to ensuring fairness."

Kinsolving: "Good."

Gibbs: "Yes."

Kinsolving: "…how, then, he and you feel about two brief statements mailed by two candidates for the two candidates for the White House Correspondents executive board – they're just two sentences. First: 'Even reporters in the first three rows have told me that they feel the inequity demonstrated by the Press Secretary is insupportable – the need to recognize all journalists in the room, not just a few.' And the second: 'One hour and one minute passed before Robert Gibbs reached our colleagues in the third row, and soon after, the briefing was over.' How do you and the president believe this is fairness?"

Gibbs: "Lester, I don't want to be party to your attacking the fine journalists that work and inhabit the first three rows of the Brady briefing room."

Kinsolving: "I didn't attack them. I didn't attack them. These were candidates."

Kinsolving: "[They] were their statements. What about that, Robert?"

Gibbs: "This is a debate – this is a debate that should be had by correspondents as correspondents choose their own leadership."

Kinsolving: "But this is aimed at you. This is a question for you."

Gibbs: "I understand, I understand, and I'm not running for anything in the White House Correspondents Association."

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