In case you missed it, President Obama on Friday held his last press conference of 2014 – and when it was time for questions, he only called on women.
The press corps has long been dominated by men, and Helen Thomas became the first female reporter to cover the White House in 1960.
It was not the first time President Obama took questions from only women. Back in September during a visit to Wales, President Obama called on four reporters who were all women. But while that was reportedly just a coincidence, Obama calling on all women on Friday was purposeful.
“The fact is, there are many women from a variety of news organizations who day-in and day-out do the hard work of covering the President of the United States,” Josh Earnest, Press Secretary at the White House, said after the conference. “As the questioner list started to come together, we realized we had a unique opportunity to highlight that fact at the President’s closely watched, end-of-the-year news conference.”
When reporters thought Obama was done taking questions, a male reporter asked Obama about his New Year’s resolutions. He ignored the male reporter and called on April Ryan of American Urban Radio instead. The other seven women, all print reporters, called on were: Carrie Budoff Brown, Politico; Cheryl Bolen, Bloomberg; Julie Pace, Associated Press; Lesley Clark, McClatchy; Roberta Rampton, Reuters; Colleen M. Nelson, Wall Street Journal; and Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post.
Media Resources: The Washington Post 12/19/2014; The Rachel Maddow Show 12/19/2014
