# Arranged questions @ White House press conference **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 24, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arranged-questions-white-house-press-conference/500855 "2009-06-24T17:59:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arranged-questions-white-house-press-conference/500855/61 "2009-06-25T12:46:37Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > IF the President used the situation to try and show that he’s going to provide non-mainstream press with access, while at the same time taking some question on a topic that he’s already got a prepared statement for, and will give with little variation regardless of the actual question asked, then that’s a wrong thing to do. That’s a little naive, I think. Presidents don’t go into press conferences unprepared. In fact, if you’re going to hold a press conference at all, you’d be rather dumb not to prepare for the questions you expect to be asked. Obama watches his words, and on Iran in particular, he’s been very measured in what he has said. As well he should be. > [@](#): > > Making it look like it’s the response to some random question on the subject while manipulating the conference so that you get to make the point first, and at the same time appear to be sensitive to the need for non-traditional press to have access to you is turning the conference into a staged event. All politicians do this. I am sure you’ve watched a presidential debate before: the missions is always to answer the question you wanted them to ask, not necessarily the one they asked. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arranged-questions-white-house-press-conference/500855/62 "2009-06-25T13:11:55Z")
Lots of presidential news conferences over the years have begun with announcements or comments from the President before he started taking questions. Obama could easily have indicated that a question had been relayed to him from someone in Iran and answered it, without resorting to the rigmarole of having a HuffPo “reporter” ask the question. It doesn’t sound like a major deception, just the wrong way to handle the matter (given past instances of press conference manipulation). Personally, I think it’s a bad idea to give the Huffington Post legitimacy, given that site’s record of dubious reporting (notably on “alternative” health issues). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arranged-questions-white-house-press-conference/500855/63 "2009-06-25T13:48:35Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Personally, I think it’s a bad idea to give the Huffington Post legitimacy, given that site’s record of dubious reporting (notably on “alternative” health issues). That’s not where legitimacy comes from. If the established reporters are upset Obama took a question from the Huffington Post or a blog, that’s just sour grapes and they’ve got no grounds to complain, even if he was sending a message. And a question about Iran trumps “how are your wife’s arms doing?” in any event. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arranged-questions-white-house-press-conference/500855/64 "2009-06-26T02:33:46Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > What exactly does ‘getting pinged on Iran’ mean? He was asked questions, and answered them. It means Iran showed up on his focus group radar and he wanted to talk about it. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arranged-questions-white-house-press-conference/500855/65 "2009-06-26T05:18:33Z")
Why even bother with the runaround? Why didn’t he just start off the press conference by saying something like, “Before we begin, my staff brought my attention to a question asked online by a Mr. X, and I would like to answer it.”. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arranged-questions-white-house-press-conference/500855/66 "2009-06-26T05:30:12Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > It means Iran showed up on his focus group radar and he wanted to talk about it. Iran’s been showing up on everybody’s radar. Notice other people asked him about it. I seriously doubt he had the HuffPo rep ask him about Iran to make sure someone would. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arranged-questions-white-house-press-conference/500855/67 "2009-06-26T07:42:27Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > IF the President simply used the situation to ensure that some unknown (to him) person in Iran got to ask an unknown (to him) question, which he then answered to the best of his ability without some pre-arranged speech, then it’s of minor consequence. A shrug moment. > > IF the President used the situation to try and show that he’s going to provide non-mainstream press with access, while at the same time taking some question on a topic that he’s already got a prepared statement for, and will give with little variation regardless of the actual question asked, then that’s a wrong thing to do. If the President wants to start off a press conference with a statement on a subject, he is free to do so. Making it look like it’s the response to some random question on the subject while manipulating the conference so that you get to make the point first, and at the same time appear to be sensitive to the need for non-traditional press to have access to you is turning the conference into a staged event. FIRST: Planted questions suck. They are used as an opportunity for the speaker to deliver a specific message. Next UP: I freely admint I would like to give Obama the benefit of the doubt here. In that 1. He wanted to answer a question directly from “the groun” in Iran 2. He also wanted to give a boost to the legitimacy of “non mainstream media” (not neccesserily the HP per se) as a way of further developing it 3. He knew that the HP had access to questions from Iran - maybe to the stage of telling them ahead of time to come prepared with a LEGITIMATE and AUTHENTIC question, but did not place any conditions on what the question should be… In reality though I admit that the truth is more likely to be that he knew what the question was. This would be the safest thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arranged-questions-white-house-press-conference/500855/68 "2009-06-26T13:27:30Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > Iran’s been showing up on everybody’s radar. Notice other people asked him about it. I seriously doubt he had the HuffPo rep ask him about Iran to make sure someone would. Maybe he’s having an affair with the reporter or Huffington paid him $100,000 for the publicity. There are an infinite number of possibilities. But he clearly used the reporter for the purposes of introduction a question about Iran in the first part of the news conference. The simplest explanation is that he wanted to insure he had a chance to talk about it as opposed to other important topics such as his smoking habits. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arranged-questions-white-house-press-conference/500855/69 "2009-06-26T13:29:59Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > Why even bother with the runaround? Why didn’t he just start off the press conference by saying something like, “Before we begin, my staff brought my attention to a question asked online by a Mr. X, and I would like to answer it.”. That would have been the sensible approach. It would also have avoided any semblance of impropriety. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arranged-questions-white-house-press-conference/500855.md?page=3)