Wednesday, April 21, 2004
NYT Responds
From Bovino:
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Dear Mr. Wright,A reader received this message:
My previous message may have been too flippant in answering your concern; for that I apologize.
I spoke with an editor in the Washington bureau about your concern. He said the administration may plan before the conference which organizations and reporters to call on but that Times reporters do not submit their questions in advance.
The editor said he would be surprised if any news organization submitted questions in advance.
Thank you for writing.
Sincerely,
Arthur Bovino
Office of the Public Editor
The New York Times
Dear Mr. JacksonAnd then the big man himself responded:
Thank you for your message.
I spoke with an editor in the Washington bureau about your concern and include his response below:
No one ever provides the president with questions beforehand. The only thing that is pre-ordained is the
seating and who the president will call on. That's decided by his press office. Then they give him a chart,
which has circles around the people he's supposed to call on.
Thank you for writing.
Sincerely,
Arthur Bovino
Office of the Public Editor
The New York Times
Dear Mr. Wright,On to the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
I recently learned that you wrote to this office concerning the protocols of White House press conferences. I cannot speak for other news organizations, but I can assure you categorically that the New York Times does not -- ever -- submit press conference questions in advance.
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Okrent
Public Editor
Daniel Okrent
Public Editor
N.B.: Any opinions expressed here, unless otherwise indicated, are solely my own
