According to many, The Daily Caller’s Neil Munro breached protocol by shouting a question during a Rose Garden statement by President Barack Obama on Friday. But an Associated Press article from 1987 reveals that Munro’s behavior was hardly unprecedented.
Over at the conservative media blog Newsbusters, Tom Blumer has unearthed an Oct. 14, 1987 AP story by Christopher Connell that asks, “Why do grown men and women shout at President Reagan?”
In the piece, Connell explains and justifies aggressive behavior by reporters that cover the White House.
“Grown men and women are shouting at President Reagan at the top of their lungs,” Connell wrote. “They do it for a living.”
Connell noted that the shouting even took place at ceremonies, but he ultimately blamed Reagan and his aides.
“Aides … have sharply curtailed opportunities for the press corps to engage the president under more civil circumstances,” the article states.
Blumer noted that this aggressiveness by the White House Press Corps occurred throughout both of Reagan’s terms, likely in an attempt to make the president seem “aloof and stand-offish.”
Blumer added that Reagan was more open with the media than Obama, who pre-selects reporters to ask questions at press conferences.
(h/t Tom Blumer, Newsbusters)