That Journalistic Assault on the President (and Two Views of the Perp)

I was interested in the reactions to the scene at the White House on Friday, the President’s Rose Garden statement being interrupted by a conservative journalist. In this polarized political climate, it appears that some looked at Neil Munro’s behavior and saw this:

Whereas a whole different segment, critical of both implementation of DREAM Act provisions by presidential order and limited press access to the President, looked at what we Munro did and saw this:

If there’s a wide distance between freedom of speech, which is what Rockwell was illustrating, by the way, and (protocol and respect surrounding) freedom of the press, I’m not sure certain people would be all that interested in the distinction.

From an editorial standpoint, it’s interesting to consider the difference in inflection between the two photos at the top of the post (the first by Getty’s Brendan Smialowski, the second by by Getty’s Alex Wong) to this one just above by the A.P.’s Haraz N. Ghanbari, and how Munro’s behavior might speak to these two audiences. Good times for the photo editor!

Someone has got to explain to me, by the way, how the bilingual edition of the Denver Post would have played it so neutrally. (And don’t miss the article’s first line.)

(photos 1-3: Getty Images. image 5: AP. caption 1: Neil Munro of the Daily Caller (C) interrupts U.S. President Barack Obama with questions as he delivered remarks about the Department of Homeland Security’s recent announcement about deportation of illegal immigrants in the Rose Garden at the White House June 15, 2012 in Washington, DC. With the DREAM Act unable to gain traction in Congress, Obama announced that his administration would stop deporting some young people who came to U.S. as children of illegal immigrants. painting: Norman Rockwell.)