a breeze of art

From pdnonline.com

By Daryl Lang
On just the second day of the Obama administration, the White House closed a historic moment to press photographers.

President Barack Obama’s re-do of the oath of office – done “out of an abundance of caution,” the administration said, after Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Obama flubbed the words during the inauguration Tuesday – was open only to a small group of print reporters.

The Associated Press reported the oath was closed to all media except a small group of reporters, and The New York Times reported only nine observers were present, including four reporters.

Official presidential photographer Pete Souza was there, taking the only picture of Roberts and Obama standing in the White House Map Room Wednesday evening. Getty Images distributed the widely seen handout image, but the Associated Press and Reuters did not.

“We’ve objected to it,” says J. David Ake, the Associated Press’s assistant chief of bureau for photos in Washington. “If it’s important enough to redo, it’s important enough to have TV and still cameras there.... We’ve complained, and I know Reuters and AFP have complained independently.”

Television networks also filed a protest about being shut out of the historic event, CNN reported Thursday morning.

In January 2007, President George W. Bush broke with custom by delivering a televised speech on the Iraq war that was not open to press photographers. In protest, the Associated Press and Reuters refused to distribute the White House handout photo, running frame grabs from the White House video pool instead. The White House News Photographers Association also objected.