It Pays To Be There

Whenever the president announces that he’s delivering a “press statement” (instead of a “press conference”), the assumption is that he’ll take few, if any, questions. As a result, fewer reporters show up on the assumption that they’re simply props and they can find out the news from the transcript.

But this morning was slightly different. The White House emailed reporters at 8am this morning: “Please let me know if you plan to attend the statement in the Rose Garden by 8:45 am this morning.” To some reporters, that was a dead giveaway that Bush might take more than a few questions. Of those who showed up on this beautiful spring day, a baker’s dozen got to question the president. Bush called on three wire services, five TV networks and five newspapers, in the following pecking order:

1) Jennifer Loven, AP
2) Steve Holland, Reuters
3) Peter Baker, Washington Post
4) Bill Plante, CBS
5) Jim Rutenberg, New York Times
6) Martha Raddatz, ABC
7) Ken Herman, Cox David Gregory, NBC
9) John McKinnon, Wall Street Journal
10) Bret Baier, Fox News
11) Bill Sammon, Washington Examiner
12) Ed Henry, CNN
13) Ed Chen, Bloomberg

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