# It's official: Bush's press conference questions get screened

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [April 21, 2004, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197 "2004-04-21T10:09:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/1 "2004-04-21T10:09:57Z")

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The weird thing is, it’s [been official since March 6, 2003](http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A53542-2003Mar6&notFound=true), and nobody noticed:

> [@](#):
>
> Communications director Dan Bartlett said this White House uses news conferences more sparingly than other types of presidential events, because “if you have a message you’re trying to deliver, a news conference can go in a different direction.”
> 
> “In this case, we know what the questions are going to be, and those are the ones we want to answer,” Bartlett said. “We think the public will see the thought and care and attention he’s given to a lot of the different questions that are being asked about the diplomatic side and the military side and the potential post-Iraq issue. These are all legitimate questions that he has answers for and wants to talk about.”

As Bush said [at the time](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030306-8.html):

> [@](#):
>
> We’ll be there in a minute. King, John King. This is a scripted – (laughter.)
> 
> \<snip\>
> 
> April. Did you have a question, or did I call upon you cold?

So when [Ron Suskind, the other day](http://www.dailytrojan.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=656561), said Bush’s press conferences were scripted, it shouldn’t have been exactly a big deal:

> [@](#):
>
> One of Suskind’s most severe critiques of Bush was not only Bush’s lack of press conferences but also his management of those conferences.
> 
> For each press conference, the White House press secretary asks the reporters for their questions, selects six or seven of the questions to answer and those reporters are the only ones called upon to ask their questions during the press conference, Suskind said.
> 
> This system makes it so that the president has answers already prepared for questions that he knows will be asked, Suskind said.

After all, we know about how Bush reacted to a certain question [at last week’s press conference](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040413-20.html):

> [@](#):
>
> Q Thank you, Mr. President. In the last campaign, you were asked a question about the biggest mistake you’d made in your life, and you used to like to joke that it was trading Sammy Sosa. You’ve looked back before 9/11 for what mistakes might have been made. After 9/11, what would your biggest mistake be, would you say, and what lessons have you learned from it?
> 
> THE PRESIDENT: I wish you would have given me this written question ahead of time, so I could plan for it. (Laughter.) John, I’m sure historians will look back and say, gosh, he could have done it better this way, or that way. You know, I just – I’m sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hadn’t yet.

Anyhow, the new news is that the New York Times just admitted to going along with the game. Once Suskind’s remarks finally drew a wider audience than that of the _Daily Trojan_, the University of Southern California’s campus newspaper, an Iowa blogger named Tony Wright had an [email exchange with a NYT editor](http://clonecone.blogspot.com/archives/2004_04_18_clonecone_archive.html#108250561429553763) about the scripting of questions. His commentary in italics:

> [@](#):
>
> \*Yesterday I wrote to the New York Times ombudsman. I wanted to know if Ron Suskind’s allegations about scripting were true. \*
> 
> According to Ron Suskind, “For each press conference, the White House press secretary asks the reporters for their questions, selects six or seven of the questions to answer and those reporters are the only ones called upon to ask their questions during the press conference.”
> 
> Can you confirm or deny this practice? If it is true, do you feel that the press should inform the public that the press conferences are scripted? This would appear to be a betrayal of the public’s trust.
> 
> Tony Wright  
> Iowa City, IA
> 
> _His reply_
> 
> Dear Mr. Wright,
> 
> I’m fairly certain that two reporters at the press conference asked unscripted questions.
> 
> Sincerely,  
> Arthur Bovino  
> Office of the Public Edtior
> 
> \*Unsatisfied with an incomplete reply, I pressed for more information. \*
> 
> Thank you for your quick reply.
> 
> Only two? Was the NYT reporter’s question scripted?
> 
> Tony Wright
> 
> _He replied two minutes later with this:_
> 
> Dear Mr. Wright,
> 
> I am uncertain if Ms. Bumiller’s question was submitted to the president before-hand.
> 
> Perhaps you might write to the president if you are unhappy with this system.
> 
> Sincerely,  
> Arthur Bovino  
> Office of the Public Editor

So there you have it: the New York Times, the bastion of the So-Called Liberal Media (SCLM), lets Bush script their questions. And they don’t even feel it’s a problem for them; any complaints should be directed to Bush.

How the mighty have fallen.

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**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/2 "2004-04-21T10:17:41Z")

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I don’t get it, RT, where’s the issue here? This has been known for ages AND it’s not just GWB. Reagan, Bush I and Clinton all had scripted Press Conferences.

ISTR that during the Iran-Contra press conference one of the reporters from Radio Marti raised a hand, got called upon, asked her question and was later fired. I remember thinking at the time that no one that far from the podium should be called on but there she was asking about US-Cuba during a press conference on a different topic.

The issue does come down to access. No access = no coverage. Any administration has the whip hand on the media unless all members get together to put a stop to it. And that’s never going to happen.

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**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/3 "2004-04-21T10:23:20Z")

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This isn’t news. The White House has always scripted contact with the press. (You can see on West Wing just how it is done.) Washington Post reporter, David Maraniss, wrote about one scripted confrontation from the Clinton administration in his 1995 biography about Bill, _First in His Class_: “It had the feel of a spontaneous encounter, the proud wife defending her man. In fact, it had been scripted. At a strategy meeting the day before, the Clinton team had decided that McRae needed to be confronted. ‘We have to take this guy on!’ Hillary said, and then she went out and did it.”

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**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/4 "2004-04-21T18:04:32Z")

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You folks really need Question Period or some functional equivalent down there.

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**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/5 "2004-04-21T18:39:35Z")

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> [@Jonathan Chance](#):
>
> I don’t get it, RT, where’s the issue here? This has been known for ages AND it’s not just GWB. Reagan, Bush I and Clinton all had scripted Press Conferences.

OK, maybe it’s been known for ages _to you_, but you worked that beat. And you and I both know that the press corps knows a lot of stuff that never makes it into the news. You know Joe Schmoe out in Kansas City knows nothing about this. I’d never even heard rumors of it before the past year or two.

And even today, Daniel Okrent denies it, in a [letter to Atrios](http://www.atrios.blogspot.com/2004_04_18_atrios_archive.html#108256542403641477):

> [@](#):
>
> Dear Atrios,
> 
> I recently learned that some readers 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

So, true or false, the NYT is trying to keep the lid on this.

Here’s [Josh Marshall](http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_04_18.php#002861)’s take on it:

> [@](#):
>
> I’d never heard of such a thing and couldn’t believe it was true. But Suskind’s a serious person and a first-rate journalist. And a bunch of readers asked if I knew anything about it. And, frankly, I’ve gotten burned a few times underestimating the degree of skullduggery this White House is capable of. So, with some trepidation, I emailed two friends from the White House press corps just to make sure.
> 
> I know and trust both of them and both assured me, categorically, that this is not what happens.
> 
> In the words of one of them: “It’s complete ---------. As in ‘I can’t believe that he was quoted accurately’ ---------. Occasionally, before background briefings, White House aides will canvass reporters to ask what we’re interested in on that day (but “the Middle East” is plenty answer for them). But I have never, ever heard of submitting questions in writing, orally, by email, or any other way before a presidential press conference. Not under Ari, not under Scott.”

So what’s happening here, Nate? If this is old news to you, why do Josh Marshall’s friends on the White House beat say it just isn’t so, even when they can be quoted anonymously?

As I said at Eschaton, I feel whipsawed: perfectly reasonable people on one side are telling me I’m seeing a conspiracy where none exists, and at least one perfectly reasonable person on the other side is telling me how shockingly naive I am.

If it’s true about the scripting of press conferences, I think it’s way overdue that it becomes common knowledge, so we can all be in on the joke the press has let itself become.

> [@](#):
>
> The issue does come down to access. No access = no coverage. Any administration has the whip hand on the media unless all members get together to put a stop to it. And that’s never going to happen.

IMHO, that’s silly and outdated. When Krugman said in his intro to _The Great Unraveling_ essentially the same thing about political coverage that Bill James said about writing about baseball 25 years ago, it seemed pretty obvious that it wasn’t about access; it was about laziness. Bill James didn’t need to talk to managers to write about baseball, Krugman doesn’t need to be at the morning press gaggle to write about politics, and neither do those reporters, most days. In this White House, it’s not like they’re going to learn anything interesting on background, either, as I’m sure you know. But doing real stories might involve actual work, while showing up at the daily press gaggles and phoning the usual folks on the other side to get the rest of the fixin’s of the ‘he said, she said’ story is easy work for a healthy paycheck.

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**Author:** ![MrTuffPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/6 "2004-04-21T18:42:49Z")

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This makes me worried. How can GW perform so horribly at a scripted press conference?

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/7 "2004-04-21T18:44:44Z")

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I heard Don Gonya on NPR this weekend. He was the last reporter to ask a question and he said that he essentially made up the question as he stood up after being called on. He emphatically stated that no one in the White House knew what he would ask and no one asked him his list of potential questions beforehand.

He did however think that he might get called on, the Press Secretary had told him that it was time radio got some representation.

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**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/8 "2004-04-21T18:46:50Z")

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Alright then, can we get pissed that the White House in general does this? No matter who the occupant is?

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**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/9 "2004-04-21T18:51:54Z")

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> [@MrTuffPaws](#):
>
> This makes me worried. How can GW perform so horribly at a scripted press conference?

Yeah me too. The guy can’t even “cheat” properly.

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/10 "2004-04-21T18:52:42Z")

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I’ll back **World Eater’s** suggestion of being pissed at any Administration which uses pre-screen press conference questions. And while we’re at it, let’s throw out some bile at any Administration that shuttles protesters into “freedom of speech zones” far away from wherever the President is planning to attend.

Is there any cite/proof that previous Administrations use pre-screened press conference questions?

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**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/11 "2004-04-21T18:54:04Z")

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> [@World Eater](#):
>
> Alright then, can we get pissed that the White House in general does this? No matter who the occupant is?

I sure could get behind that. I want whomever is in there to risk hard questions.

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**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/12 "2004-04-21T18:58:26Z")

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You mean Bush knows the answers in advance, and yet he _still_ comes off as a stammering idiot? :eek:

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**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/13 "2004-04-21T18:59:44Z")

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Dan Froomkin, who writes the White House Briefing column for the Washington Post’s website, covered this in [his online chat](http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/04/r_froomkin041404.htm). An excerpt:

> [@](#):
>
> Rochester, N.Y.: I have heard that reporters allow the White House to screen their questions as a way to guarantee that Bush will call on them. This is an outrage, if true. Is it?
> 
> Dan Froomkin: No it’s not.
> 
> I touched on this question in my column this morning. The conspiracy theory that reporters submit their questions ahead of time to the White House is very hot in the blogosphere right now.
> 
> But it’s completely and utterly preposterous – and entirely unfounded. I would like to kill it once and for all. There are plenty of legitimate questions about the White House press corps, we shouldn’t be wasting our time on this one.  
> \<snip\>  
> To put this even further to rest, I just e-mailed Mike Allen, White House correspondent for The Washington Post. This is what Mike had to say:
> 
> “I have checked this out thoroughly with both colleagues in the press and the staff at the White House and I have no one who has ever heard of a question being submitted in advance. It is simply not done.”
> 
> OK? Everyone satisfied?

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**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/14 "2004-04-21T19:17:44Z")

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Yeah, perfectly satisfied. It’s been SOP for years (but we’re tinfoilhats if we think so), it never happens (but we’re incredibly naive if we think so), and the current WH communications director said it happened at one specific Presidential press conference last March.

Does that sum up what we know?

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**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/15 "2004-04-21T19:31:40Z")

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It sure doesn’t sum up what **I** know, and I would hope the same for you.

SOP for years? Cite for this?

The WH communications director says it happened once, and you take it as gospel? Why would you do this?

And various members of the press who would know better say it **doesn’t** happen… and yet you don’t accept what they say? Huh?

Not only that, but you seem to have mischaracterized the NYT’s position, too:

> [@](#):
>
> Dear Mr. Wright,
> 
> I am uncertain if Ms. Bumiller’s question was submitted to the president before-hand.
> 
> Perhaps you might write to the president if you are unhappy with this system.
> 
> Sincerely,  
> Arthur Bovino  
> Office of the Public Editor
> 
> So there you have it: the New York Times, the bastion of the So-Called Liberal Media (SCLM), lets Bush script their questions. And they don’t even feel it’s a problem for them; any complaints should be directed to Bush.
> 
> How the mighty have fallen.

The ombudman most certainly did NOT say that the NYT “lets Bush script their questions.” He said he was uncertain if that reporter’s question was submitted beforehand. The difference is that the reporter could have been asked, in theory, by the WH to provide questions (as Bartlett or someone mentioned), but there is no indication that a) this happens all the time or b) that this particular reporter DID provide a question.

You obviously had your mind made up anyway, so there’s not much point in discussing it, is there?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/16 "2004-04-21T20:10:56Z")

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> [@dantheman](#):
>
> It sure doesn’t sum up what **I** know, and I would hope the same for you.
> 
> SOP for years? Cite for this?

**Jonathan Chance**. Feel free to believe him or not, but he’s my cite.

> [@](#):
>
> The WH communications director says it happened once, and you take it as gospel? Why would you do this?

Because he said so on March 6, 2003, well before the current controversy. And it’s hard to see why the White House would want to say Bush’s press conferences were scripted if it wasn’t true.

> [@](#):
>
> And various members of the press who would know better say it **doesn’t** happen… and yet you don’t accept what they say? Huh?

I haven’t?

> [@](#):
>
> It’s been SOP for years ( **but we’re tinfoilhats if we think so** ), **it never happens** (but we’re incredibly naive if we think so)

Seems I’ve given them equal weight here.

> [@](#):
>
> Not only that, but you seem to have mischaracterized the NYT’s position, too:
> 
> > [@NYT](#):
> >
> > Dear Mr. Wright,
> > 
> > I am uncertain if Ms. Bumiller’s question was submitted to the president before-hand.
> > 
> > Perhaps you might write to the president if you are unhappy with this system.
> 
> The ombudman most certainly did NOT say that the NYT “lets Bush script their questions.” He said he was uncertain if that reporter’s question was submitted beforehand. The difference is that the reporter could have been asked, in theory, by the WH to provide questions (as Bartlett or someone mentioned), but there is no indication that a) this happens all the time or b) that this particular reporter DID provide a question.

Did I say it happens all the time? No. (Who’s made up his mind here?)

But how am I supposed to interpret this? An editor at the NYT says he doesn’t know if Ms. Bumiller’s question was submitted to the president beforehand. Not “it would have been against NYT policy,” just “we don’t know about that particular instance.” Ditto the “you might write to the president if you are unhappy with this system.” If there ain’t no system, what’s to write the President about?

> [@](#):
>
> You obviously had your mind made up anyway, so there’s not much point in discussing it, is there?

When I wrote the OP, the reason why I wrote it was that the weight of the evidence seemed to have piled up real high on one side of the question. If my OP seemed like I had made up my mind, well of course! I was making an assertion, and laying out the evidence supporting that assertion.

But show me where I’ve been unreceptive in my posts since then to evidence coming in on the other side. I’ve even brought some of it into play myself, in response to Nate’s claim that scripted Presidential press conferences are as normal as traffic jams on the Beltway.

Quite honestly, I don’t know _what_ to think, but for the reasons I’ve cited, what Bartlett said seems to be the closest thing to a piece of unassailable evidence here. So in the continuum between ‘never happens’ and ‘happens all the time’, I’m opting for ‘has happened at least once’. That’s as much as I’m reasonably sure of right now.

Sheesh. Some days it doesn’t pay to get out of bed.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/17 "2004-04-21T20:29:25Z")

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Maybe it’s the terminology. By ‘scripted’ I mean that the questions (or at least what the topic will be) is known ahead of time and answers can be prepared. Not that the Press Corps and the administration sits down and scripts the whole thing out.

Sort of an extension of ‘only call on the reporters who will ask the right questions’ theory.

As for those other reporters claiming it ‘absolutely’ doesn’t happen? All I can offer is that it was certainly an open secret while I was down there. And certainly GWB either A) believes it or B) wants to give that impression for whatever purposes.

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**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/18 "2004-04-21T20:42:11Z")

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As much as I would be very impressed if any president revives freeform TV and radio shows with his or her press conferences, it is quite understandable that any event he is involved in would be more or less scripted, especially in the day of TV and instant miscommunications.

Actually the scripting might help the reporters to write tighter and clearer questions, so the president won’t go off tangent (he does anyway, but we can’t help that).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/19 "2004-04-21T21:04:35Z")

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**RTFirefly,**

I don’t think your first quote (from Dan Bartlett) says what you claim - the exact opposite, in fact. Reread the first paragraph. If the Bush team was scripting the press conferences, there would be no reason to limit the number of press conferences because they could go in a different direction. Clearly it could not go in a different direction if it was scripted, so Bartlett is obviously not saying what you claim.

Bartlett says “In this case, we know what the questions are going to be” - he does not say that in this case the questions were scripted. I think they knew what the questions were going to be because on the eve of war it is obvious that all questions would concern this subject.

(Your quotes from the PC itself also show nothing).

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**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-bushs-press-conference-questions-get-screened/241197/20 "2004-04-21T21:11:42Z")

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> [@Jonathan Chance](#):
>
> Maybe it’s the terminology. By ‘scripted’ I mean that the questions (or at least what the topic will be) is known ahead of time and answers can be prepared. Not that the Press Corps and the administration sits down and scripts the whole thing out.

We’re using the terms the same way, then.

> [@](#):
>
> As for those other reporters claiming it ‘absolutely’ doesn’t happen? All I can offer is that it was certainly an open secret while I was down there. And certainly GWB either A) believes it or B) wants to give that impression for whatever purposes.

He’s certainly referred to the notion at two different press conferences, over a year apart. It’s hard to argue that that means nothing.

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