Controversies
On September 12, 2012, Ari Shapiro was recorded coordinating a question to ask Mitt Romney with CBS News's Jan Crawford just prior to a press to be held by Mitt Romney intended to address the American administration's response via the State Department to the 2012 diplomatic missions attacks. Conservative critics described the exchange as an attempt to create a narrative that the Romney presidential campaign had made a number of missteps and gaffes from journalists sympathetic to Obama's reelection campaign.
The “controversy” was dismissed by major news organizations. The Washington Post called the criticism “conspiracy-mongering” and “vacuous blather.” Politico said “the conspiracy charge is ridiculous,” adding that it’s “about as sinister as a group of businessmen agreeing to bring pastries to a meeting in order to ensure that, ‘no matter what time you arrive, we'll all be fed,’”
Caren Bohan, former President of the White House Correspondents’ Association, noted that the practice of planning questions before press conferences has been common no matter which party is in charge. “Reporters often strategized during the Bush White House and later in the Obama White House about questions and the reason reporters sometimes do this is that presidents are very skilled in providing talking points and in anticipating our questions and so we do from time to time talk amongst ourselves about the best way to ask a question that will get the most direct answer,” she told the Post.
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