WASHINGTON – (Newsblaze) – President Obama in his concluding remarks to attendees at Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner said it was an honor and privilege to “work side by side” with the press corps and that they “shared the same goal.” Journalists taking a stand were not shedding their objectivity, but rather engaged in “good journalism.”
“So I want to close my final White House Correspondents’ Dinner by just saying thank you. I’m very proud of what you’ve done. It has been an honor and a privilege to work side by side with you to strengthen our democracy,” the President remarked before dropping the microphone and saying “Obama Out.”
That “working side by side” in Obama’s view meant that the administration “shared the same goal” as the press.
Praise For Press Corps
“I know that there are times that we’ve had differences, and that’s inherent in our institutional roles – it’s true of every President and his press corps. But we’ve always shared the same goal – to root our public discourse in the truth; to open the doors of this democracy; to do whatever we can to make our country and our world more free and more just. And I’ve always appreciated the role that you have all played as equal partners in reaching these goals,” the President noted.
Mr. Obama not only mentioned that he was proud to work with journalists in the White House Press Corps but that journalistic objectivity was not sacrificed in reporters taking stands on issues.
“And that’s why your power and your responsibility to dig and to question and to counter distortions and untruths is more important than ever. Taking a stand on behalf of what is true does not require you shedding your objectivity. In fact, it is the essence of good journalism. It affirms the idea that the only way we can build consensus, the only way that we can move forward as a country, the only way we can help the world mend itself is by agreeing on a baseline of facts when it comes to the challenges that confront us all,” the President stated.
