The View’s liberal hosts weren’t only bored by the Daily Beast report that the White House press office was already asking reporters to feed them the questions before press briefings; in fact, they rationalized and defended it.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg laughed at the anonymous reporters’ concerns:
You know, some White House reporters aren't very happy that there was requests from the White House [chuckles] to get press briefing questions in advance, and it has them raising red flags about the Biden administration's [chuckles] promise of total transparency according to The Daily Beast. Does it occur to everybody that they have been in there probably for three weeks, and they might not have all the answers [chuckles]--have all the answers yet? Call me crazy.
Fellow co-hosts Sara Haines and Joy Behar were equally unbothered. Haines argued this “wasn’t right” but was normal behavior from press offices to make things “seamless.” Behar complained the press briefing wasn’t supposed to be filled with “gotcha” questions, anyway!
JOY BEHAR: [T]his type of press conference is not supposed to be gotcha questions. They're supposed to be informative information questions and answers, and so it behooves the administration to be prepared to give the correct information. Jen Psaki--what’s her name? Psaki. Jen Psaki. She can't know everything.
She even laughably claimed that reporters would call out Psaki if she used “spin" so she had to tell the truth!
And by the way this idea that she can come up with spin, I think the reporters are quite aware of when someone is spinning and when they're not, and that they would call her out on that, and this administration is very well prepared to say the truth, whereas the last one would just lie and spin and whatever. But you know I just think that, you know, it's not a gotcha session. That's what has to be understood.
As usual, only conservative co-host Meghan McCain criticized Team Biden, noting this was not normal but controversial behavior. She called out the left holds themselves and their politicians to different standards:
The problem people are having with this, is it's the administration asking for questions in advance from reporters, which yes is highly un-kosher and highly unorthodox. Maybe we're living in different worlds. I have worked on campaigns and been around many politicians, and I've never once been in a situation where I said, "Hey you as a journalist ,can you give us this question for the principal in advance?" That's not how it works. I think part of the problem is we live in two different worlds of media.
We live in liberal media and the conservative media. I have been in these rooms. Most journalists are liberal. Most journalists are Democrats. Most journalists have a liberal bias. It's just the facts. By the way there's data to back that up from journalism schools. I'm not just pontificating out of my face.
But Sunny Hostin excused the “inappropriate” behavior away because we were in a “whole new world” with this administration:
Let's face it. I mean, this is a world of difference from what we were dealing with before. The last administration was not transparent. It was opaque at the very best... We're talking about we're coming from the mooch, Sarah Huckabee and Kayleigh McEnany, you know, the liar-in-chief press secretary, you know, so we're in a whole new world, and so, you know, if the Biden administration has given us -- I think it's just a breath of fresh air.
Like her co-hosts, Hostin dismissed the alarming behavior from the Biden administration and said we should just be grateful for their “transparency:”
"So the fact that they're asking for, you know, area, topic areas or even questions, I still think we're in a much better place in terms of transparency, and isn't that what we want I think from our government?" she argued.
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Read the transcript below:
The View
2/3/2021
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: You know, some White House reporters aren't very happy that there was requests from the White House [chuckles] to get press briefing questions in advance, and it has them raising red flags about the Biden administration's [chuckles] promise of total transparency according to The Daily Beast. Does it occur to everybody that they have been in there probably for three weeks, and they might not have all the answers [chuckles]--have all the answers yet? Call me crazy. Sara, does it bother you?
SARA HAINES: Well It doesn't bother me. For someone reading that headline with no context of TV or news, well, that doesn't seem right. It's not right, but the point is that everyone -- every P.R. person, every press person, they always ask for questions, and the news people are not allowed to give them, should not be giving them, but in every administration, Bush, Obama, this will always happen. Their sole goal is to make the object of who they're working for easier for them, more seamless. So they'll always try to ask, but in news we aren't allowed to give questions in advance. I would be more concerned if they said, they were asked to give questions and if they didn't, they were banned from the room. If there was some kind of consequential outcome, it would be different. but this happens in every administration, It's part of the game.
WHOOPI: Joy, were you freaked out?
JOY BEHAR: No. No. I mean, first of all let's talk about whether they're actual specific questions or areas of discussion, and, you know, this type of press conference is not supposed to be gotcha questions. They're supposed to be informative information questions and answers, and so it behooves the administration to be prepared to give the correct information. Jen Psaki--what’s her name? Psaki. Jen Psaki. She can't know everything, and by the way this idea that she can come up with spin, I think the reporters are quite aware of when someone is spinning and when they're not, and that they would call her out on that, and this administration is very well prepared to say the truth, whereas the last one would just lie and spin and whatever.
WHOOPI: Yeah.
BEHAR: But you know I just think that, you know, it's not a gotcha session. That's what has to be understood.
WHOOPI: Right. Meghan, are you concerned about this? Or--what are your thoughts?
MEGHAN MCCAIN: Well, I mean -- I'm Republican so, you know, I'm concerned about it in the sense that, you know, it's one thing if a reporter is asking for background on something, and is asking the principle for background on something. The problem people are having with this is is it's the administration asking for questions in advance from reporters, which yes is highly unkosher and highly unorthodox. Maybe we're living in different worlds. I have worked on campaigns and been around many politicians, and I've never once been in a situation where I said, hey you as a journalist ,can you give us this question for the principal in advance? That's not how it works. I think part of the problem is we live in two different worlds of media. We live in liberal media and the conservative media. I have been in these rooms. Most journalists are liberal. Most journalists are Democrats. Most journalists have a liberal bias. It's just the facts. By the way there's data to back that up from journalism schools. I'm not just pontificating out of my face. There's one true adage. The media giveth, and the media taketh away. And If Jen Psaki, and people in the Biden administration want to act like this is just going to be a free for all forever because we're all finally done with the trump administration, and there's going to be a different set of standard for rules than past administrations, then it's going to end very badly.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Sunny, what do you think?
SUNNY HOSTIN: I don't like the practice of trying to ask for questions in advance. I don't think that's appropriate. I think asking for topic areas is just fine, but let's face it. I mean, this is a world of difference from what we were dealing with before. The last administration was not transparent. It was opaque at the very best. There was a time when we didn't even have any press briefings. The press briefing room hadn't been used in months and months. We're talking about we're coming from the mooch, Sarah Huckabee and Kayleigh McEnany, you know, the liar in chief press secretary, you know, so we're in a whole new world, and so, you know, if the Biden administration has given us -- I think it's just a breath of fresh air. So the fact that they're asking for, you know, area, topic areas or even questions, I still think we're in a much better place in terms of transparency, and isn't that what we want I think from our government?
WHOOPI: Right.
