Golfing with Tiger - no press allowed

Posted: Feb 18, 2013

The White House press corps is expressing frustration over its lack of access this weekend to President Obama, who was on a golfing vacation in Florida. Ed Henry, the Fox News correspondent and president of the White House Correspondents Association, released a statement Sunday evening in which he said the press corps had been given no access to the president, who was joined on his outing by star golfer Tiger Woods, and that the WHCA would fight for greater transparency in the days ahead. "Speaking on behalf of the White House Correspondents Association, I can say a broad cross section of our members from print, radio, online and TV have today expressed extreme frustration to me about having absolutely no access to the President of the United States this entire weekend," Henry said in a statement, relayed in a White House pool report. "There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead: transparency." The White House responded to Henry's complaint in a statement from Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest, also included in the pool report. "The press access granted by the White House today is entirely consistent with the press access offered for previous presidential golf outings," Earnest said. "It's also consistent with the press access promised to the White House Press Corps prior to arrival in Florida on Friday evening." Reports of the President's outing with Tiger Woods were sourced to Golf Digest senior writer Tim Rosaforte, who was at The Floridian National Golf Club Sunday morning and tweeted a few observations. http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/02/press-expresses-extreme-frustration-about-having-absolutely-157233.html;