At a year-end press conference, President Barack Obama answered eight questions from reporters — but in an unusual twist, the reporters he called on today were all women. They were:
All eight reporters President Obama called on today for questions are women. #cspanchat pic.twitter.com/E8a6L9lXp1" I spy @AprilDRyan
— Bridget (@CSPANBriCD) December 19, 20141. Carrie Budoff Brown (Politico)2. Cheryl Bolen (Bloomberg)3. Julie Pace (Associated Press)4. Lesley Clark (McClatchy)5. Roberta Rampton (Reuters)6. Colleen M. Nelson (Wall Street Journal)7. Juliet Eilperin (Washington Post)8. April Ryan (American Urban Radio)
After the final question, President Obama bid everyone “Mahalo” and walked out (presumably to begin his holiday break in Hawaii), and several male reporters could be heard shouting their questions at the president. He did not acknowledge them.
Was it a coincidence or a conscious decision on the part of the president? White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest responded in a statement: “The fact is, there are many women from a variety of news organizations who day-in and day-out do the hard work of covering the President of the United States. As the questioner list started to come together, we realized that we had a unique opportunity to highlight that fact at the President’s closely watched, end of the years news conference.”
On Twitter, media and political watchers reacted swiftly, many praising the president for his actions:
see how newsy press conferences can be when women ask the questions?
— gwen ifill (@gwenifill) December 19, 2014Briefings full of Women > Binders Full of Women
— Brenna Williams (@brennawilliams) December 19, 2014Has POTUS only called on women so far in this presser? That's amazing.
— Lisa Lerer (@llerer) December 19, 2014Intentional? only women called on by Pres. #Obama ? Or a sign of the times- becuase the chosen news orgzs all have women on the beat?
— Ann Compton (@AnnCompton) December 19, 2014Was it bad that I so enjoyed watching male reporters squirm as they realized Obama would only call on women during his last 2014 presser?
— Eric Deggans at NPR (@Deggans) December 19, 2014
Nisha Chittal