ABCs Jake Tapper Does His Job
Kudos Galore Pour In

Today, ABC News Senior White House Correspondent, Jake Tapper, challenged Obama Press flak Robert Gibbs in the White House press room, on why the Obama White House felt entitled to claim, as they have over the past several days, that Fox News is not a legitimate news organization, and why other news organizations should thereby shun them.

The exchange was posted here on Jake's blog, Political Punch.

Tapper: It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations "not a news organization" and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one –

(Crosstalk)

Gibbs: Jake, we render, we render an opinion based on some of their coverage and the fairness that, the fairness of that coverage.

Tapper: But that's a pretty sweeping declaration that they are "not a news organization." How are they any different from, say –

Gibbs: ABC -

Tapper: ABC. MSNBC. Univision. I mean how are they any different?

Gibbs: You and I should watch sometime around 9 o'clock tonight. Or 5 o'clock this afternoon.

Tapper: I'm not talking about their opinion programming or issues you have with certain reports. I'm talking about saying thousands of individuals who work for a media organization, do not work for a "news organization" -- why is that appropriate for the White House to say?

Gibbs: That's our opinion.

In reading through many of the hundreds of comments in the thread following Jake's post, I was struck by the very large number of people who simply posted comments there thanking Jake Tapper for doing his job! I'd never read anything like it.

An instant outpouring of affection for a reporter? Think about it!

So, I decided to leave a comment.

Here it is:

Somehow, it all just seems so out of sync to read so many comments from people who are actually thanking Jake Tapper for doing his job! A reporter! People hate reporters, don't they? I cannot recall another time when I saw or read anything quite like it. Of course, the internet age differs from the past, but still!

He really does not expect to be thanked, you know. Matter of fact, I'll even bet the kudos are a little bit embarrassing to him. I also suspect he would say that he simply knows no other way, that he is just doing his job.

Well . . . that's true.

Now, this is not the first time Jake Tapper has asked tough questions of the current occupant(s) of the White House. And there aren't a lot of reporters that do that these days.

There are very few.

Jake Tapper is historically one of a long line of journalists who have played an enormously important role in our republic, because what the good reporters and journalists do, is watch how people in charge handle their power. And they ask them questions, sometimes in a seemingly impertinent manner, about what they are doing and why. They challenge them, ask for documents as proof, and often come at them from several different angles. And they expose the screw ups.

Yet, it suddenly and almost instantaneously became a lost art with so many of the star-struck press minions, with the election of Barack Obama less than one year ago, like they chugged down some happy potion. Quite a few of them had consciously or subconsciously played an important role in actually promoting his candidacy. More than a few of them openly worshiped him. All many of them did was write breathless pap.

Remember back in June of this year, when the President of Newsweek actually said that Barack Obama was above America, even above the world -- he declared Obama was "sort of God?"

What the ?#$>$C. . . He should have been laughed out of town . . . or issued a bib, and sent off to the home!

I just hope there are a few reporters reading this thread -- the ones that still read, that is. And I hope they take something away from the fact that Jake Tapper has been thanked here repeatedly for doing his job. Maybe it will awaken something in them, some spark, some faint recollection of what their job is, and what this country is all about.

So what the heck, here goes -- not for nothing!

Hey Jake. Thanks man. There's nothing quite like watching a real pro at work. Good job!

Posted by: Trochilus October 20, 2009 at 10:21 PM