Is it cold in here? Or is it Fox?
The Pentagon briefing room is often a cold place. The temperature is kept low, so the government briefers don’t sweat while they are being pummeled by reporter’s questions. But last week it seemed particularly frosty in the room, as Fox Pentagon producer Justin Fishel got an obvious cold shoulder from Pentagon Spokesman Geoff Morrell.
Fishel had posted a story the day before that seemed to put the Pentagon at odds with the White House over how soon prisoners at Guantánamo would be getting the H1N1 flu shots.
Pentagon: Gitmo Detainees to Receive H1N1 Vaccine, Despite White House Claim — Fox News, Nov. 3, 2009
By one account the Pentagon spokesman named in the Fox story, Bryan Whitman, was particularly upset, and chewed out Fishel in the Fox booth within earshot of other reporters in the correspondent’s corridor.
The next day, November 4th, Fishel was clearly feeling the chill from Morrell, who when Fishel attempted to ask a question, curtly rebuked him for interrupting, “Excuse — Justin, I’m addressing this question. You raised your hand. I’m happy to call on you in some point in this engagement,” Morrell remonstrated Fishel.
Click image to watch the testy exchange — Pentagon Channel
As Fishel patiently held up his hand up, Morrell ignored him, only acknowledged Fishel at the very end of the briefing, after another producer from a competing network, Luis Martinez of ABC, was called on and “deferred” his question to Fishel.
Fishel said, “Thank you. I’ve had my hand up the whole time,” to which Morrell replied, “I didn’t see you. I’m sorry. ”
“I don’t believe that for a second,” Fishel retorted before asking and getting an answer to his question. (You can see and hear the exchange by clicking on the picture)
In the Obama Administration’s war on Fox, this was a minor skirmish, but if thin-skinned spokespeople are going to take it personally every time some news organization, (and yes, Fox IS a news organization) does a story they don’t like, well, let’s just say it’s going to be a cold winter.
Tags: Fox, Geoff Morrell, Justin Fishel, Pentagon
