Why Obama's Iranian Citizen Question Really Matters

President Obama took a question from an Iranian citizen during his Tuesday press conference, via Huffington Post reporter Nico Pitney, marking a small step towards a more open and interactive Washington press corps. You might not know that, however, from the press corps' reaction.

Since Obama was inaugurated, many media critics, citizen journalists and web activists have been calling on him to answer meaningful, unfiltered questions from citizens. After watching the Obama Campaign in action, people saw the potential for deeper, direct engagement between wired citizens and a President who gets new media and believes in transparency.

Citizen media pioneer Dan Gillmor, author of We The Media, proposed a citizen press corps to corner politicians on hard questions. Ask The President, which I helped launch in a coalition spanning The Washington Times, The Nation and TechPresident, has already convened national voting on citizen questions for Obama's press conferences. And several White House correspondents have solicited citizen suggestions for potential questions at Obama's pressers, including Jake Tapper, Chuck Todd, Ana Marie Cox and Jon Ward.

Thus it was likely -- and hardly surprising -- that a citizen question would be posed at a presidential press conference. Given the news, it happened to come from Tehran, not Tennessee.

So the complaints of several Washington reporters are not only odd, but hard to take at face value. It is particularly rich for reporters to protest that the White House told Pitney he might be tapped for a question. Every day, a few top White House correspondents have special access in press briefings, while many reporters are never called on (seating charts are powerful). And many Washington reporters routinely, secretly grant the White House blind quotes and restrictive ground rules in exchange for access. By contrast, Pitney transparently told readers about his dealings with the White House, in real time, on his blog. The public would be better served if all media outlets took that tack, publishing any arrangements, restrictions or ground rules along with every article or interview. (Readers would be interested -- media criticism and scrutiny tends to draw traffic across the spectrum.)

Unfortunately, the media's complaints threaten to overshadow the minor progress made on Tuesday. (Imagine that.) By injecting a citizen question into a live presidential press conference, Pitney cracked the Beltway boundaries on who gets to interrogate the President. It matters who is empowered in this rarefied role -- demanding answers from the President on the spot, on air, shaping the framing and priorities of our political discourse. And it's past time that regular citizens, from across the country and around the world, get a turn.

UPDATE: Today Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald discusses the import of having an "actual Iranian" ask a question at the press conference, and features a new, must-see video featuring one of the reporters who has been complaining about the citizen question.

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Ari Melber wrote about citizen questions for President Obama in The People's Press Conference, which ran in the April 6 edition of The Nation.

Comments (15)

1. The answer was on the teleprompter so he had to take the question.

   Posted by abell12ct at 06/24/2009 @ 08:01am

2. There's little incentive to coordinate with the regular press corps, given the predictability of their questions.

   Posted by BruceMcF at 06/24/2009 @ 09:06am

3. Posted by snowball666 at 06/24/2009 @ 08:44am

   Remember abell's favorite President used to take questions from "Jeff Gannon".

   LOL

   Posted by Mask at 06/24/2009 @ 09:20am

4. Anything that shakes up the Washington Press Corpse has to be a good thing!

   Posted by syfriendly at 06/24/2009 @ 10:06am

5. "... and a President who gets new media and believes in transparency."

   I guess there is a difference between believing in something, like transparency, and actually practising it, do ya think, eh.

   Posted by Drpangloss at 06/24/2009 @ 6:45pm

6. Walk softly and carry a big telepromter!

   Posted by BigPasture at 06/24/2009 @ 11:39pm

7. ACTUALLY THERE WAS NO TELEPROMTER THAT DAY. THAT IS A FACT.ALSO CAN ANY OF YOU CAN NAME A PRESIDENT THAT DIDENT HAVE REPORTERS HE PREFERED. AT THIS EARLY JUNCTURE IN HIS PRESIDENCY HE NEEDS ALL THE SUPPORT HE CAN GET.HE HAS THE CONSERVATIVE MEDIA IN A FRENZY AND THERE TRYING EVERYTHING THEY CAN TO DIMINISH THIS PRESIDENT TO THE WORLD. HE ALSO HAS DEMOCRATS INGAGED IN A CULTURE OF CORRUPION IN THE HALLS OF THE SENATE AND CONGRESS. OBAMA IS TAKING MONEY OUT OF THERE POCKET AND THEY DONT LIKE IT. THEY LIKE IT EVEN LESS THAT THE MONEY IS GOING TO PEOPLE THEY CONSIDER LOST AND A DRAIN ON SOCIETY. AS FAR AS THE WAR AND IRAN UPRISING REMEMBER ALOT OF WEAPONS USED TO KILL OUR SOLDIERS IN THESE MIDDLE EAST WARS ARE NOT ONLY FROM RUSSIA. SOME OF THOSE WEAPONS THAT KILLED OUR SOLDIERS WE GAVE TO THEM.WARS ARE BIG MONEY AND OVERSITE COMMITTES NEED OVERSITE COMMITTES TO WATCH OVER THEM. JOE CAPRIO/CITYLIFEPRODUCTIONS

   Posted by CITYLIFE9 at 06/25/2009 @ 12:53am

8. Hi, Recently on Anderson Cooper show on Obama and Iran crisis, David Gergen suggested that Obama could lead the international community, by working with leaders of other countries, for example with President of Turkey. Doesn't anyone in the US know that this government in Turkey is pro Islam, they deny being anti-Ataturk, being friendly with Iranian regime, they try to score domestic political points with anti-Israel statements and are following the footprints of Iranian Islam ideology. This prime minister was elected by a very unusual election process. There was a coalition government in 2001. There were no signals of problems in the coalition. During an overseas visit one of the coalition members announced desire for an early election. At the time this prime minister Tayyib Erdogan did not qualify be be a condidate. He had some legal troubles. Today's President Abdullah Gul and his party AKP got elected with 33% of the popular votes. At the time the election laws did not allow any party to gain seats unless they got more than 10% of the popular votes. After Mr. Erdogan cleared his legal troubles, a special election was held for him. No other candidate ran against him. Then Abdullah Gul stepped down and Erdogan became PM. Some consider this coup d'etat. Tayyip did not get elected, he got appointed by Bush. 2 questions please: 1- Do you get any information about this government's oppression on intellectuals, on liberal and secular members of press and military? Cencorship efforts, intimidation, unjust jailings, torture, unexplainable deaths while arrested are on the rise again. 2- Does any one know who is Fethullah Gulen and what he does in the US? If we do not want another Iran, we should uncover this man and what Turkish government is doing domestically.

   Posted by tetos at 06/25/2009 @ 01:10am

9. Hi, Recently on Anderson Cooper show on Obama and Iran crisis, David Gergen suggested that Obama could lead the international community, by working with leaders of other countries, for example with President of Turkey. Doesn't anyone in the US know that this government in Turkey is pro Islam, they deny being anti-Ataturk, being friendly with Iranian regime, they try to score domestic political points with anti-Israel statements and are following the footprints of Iranian Islam ideology. This prime minister was elected by a very unusual election process. There was a coalition government in 2001. There were no signals of problems in the coalition. During an overseas visit one of the coalition members announced desire for an early election. At the time this prime minister Tayyib Erdogan did not qualify be be a condidate. He had some legal troubles. Today's President Abdullah Gul and his party AKP got elected with 33% of the popular votes. At the time the election laws did not allow any party to gain seats unless they got more than 10% of the popular votes. After Mr. Erdogan cleared his legal troubles, a special election was held for him. No other candidate ran against him. Then Abdullah Gul stepped down and Erdogan became PM. Some consider this coup d'etat. Tayyip did not get elected, he got appointed by Bush. 2 questions please: 1- Do you get any information about this government's oppression on intellectuals, on liberal and secular members of press and military? Cencorship efforts, intimidation, unjust jailings, torture, unexplainable deaths while arrested are on the rise again. 2- Does any one know who is Fethullah Gulen and what he does in the US? If we do not want another Iran, we should uncover this man and what Turkish government is doing domestically.

   Posted by tetos at 06/25/2009 @ 01:18am

10. Posted by CITYLIFE9 at 06/25/2009 @ 12:53am

    Okay, Mr Caprio, we're going to have to ask you to cut back on the double espressos....'kay?

    Posted by Mask at 06/25/2009 @ 11:14am

11. With Jake Tapper and Major Garrett there to ask meaningful questions, Obama knew he'd need a plant to hide behind at some point.

    Posted by JackDavis1 at 06/25/2009 @ 1:29pm

12. Posted by JackDavis1 at 06/25/2009 @ 1:29pm

    A "plant" asking a question from an Iranian citizen, which the Right claims that they now love and that Obama doesn't care about????

    Posted by Mask at 06/25/2009 @ 3:07pm

13. A "plant" asking a question from an Iranian citizen, which the Right claims that they now love and that Obama doesn't care about????

    Posted by Mask at 06/25/2009 @ 3:07pm

    Who ever said people need to have consistent views? There is more than enough proof on this website that people will do triple somersaults in order to hate someone of the opposite party affiliation.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 06/25/2009 @ 8:51pm

14. Posted by Cccomfo1 at 06/25/2009 @ 8:51pm

    I pointed that out to Larry yesterday. A video of even conservative suck-up Bernie Goldberg taking to task Sean Hannity for seeming to "want to attack Obama, even when he did the right thing" on the Somali pirate/hostage crises thing.

    On Iran, they're being doubly hypocritical...want Obama to be "more forceful supporting the Iranian people"...then he does and they snark about it being "too little, too late"...

    AND remember these are the same guys who BEFORE the Iranian election, were hoping Israel would bomb the crap out of these people that THEY claim THEY "love more than Obama apparently does!".

    Posted by Mask at 06/26/2009 @ 07:58am

15. The Beltway 'Village' Media responded just as any streetwalker would react to someone they believe is 'giving it away for free,' even though I suspect Mr. Pitney is paid for his efforts.

    The 'Old Guard' Big Media solons are mighty miffed that 'amateurs' on blogs are surpassing them in the practice of actual journalism and the dispensing of interesting and well-written opinion pieces. Why most of these damned bloggers have never even shared a conspiratorial chuckle with Peggy Noonan over a margarita at one of DC's many frond restaurants for the American Aristocracy!

    These are, after all, people who pay lip service to the rare perspicacity and massive intellect of the 'Dean' of the Washington Press Corps (or whatever he is these days), the boring strumpet David Broder.

    Broder regurgitates pre-digested treacle that's guaranteed not to cause dyspepsia in the Ruling Class in Washington and Wall Street; who would rather read Elmer Fudd's mushy rumblings than the real journalism of writers such as Matt Taibbi or those here at The Nation?

    The answer is no one, except the Coddled Corps who haughtly presents us with what they call 'news' but is really more a hybid of cocktail party gossip and corporate press release.

    As the numbers willing to put up with their guff dwindle, they are running scared.

    Posted by RSJ at 06/26/2009 @ 4:50pm