History Made as President Obama Delivers White House Speech

When President Barack Obama delivered the news that Osama bin Laden was dead, the world watched him on television and, the next morning, the world saw photos … shot after the speech while he pretended to deliver his lines.

After a Reuters photographer blogged about the evening’s events, an uproar rolled through the news industry. Critics slammed members of the media for going along with the White House in shooting re-enactments, pretending that this was a new thing. (There’s evidence that it went back as far as President Roosevelt’s fireside chats.)

With the masses (or, at least, some very concerned journalists) on their side, the Washington press corp pushed the White House and, tonight, for the first time, a member of the independent press was in the East Room as the president spoke to the nation. The honor fell to the Associated Press’ Pablo Martinez Monsivais.

To the members of the press corp in our capital – nice work. To the White House staff – nice work. An open and accessible government is critical to the success of our democracy – never let technological fears (or the sounds you think you might hear) get in its way.