Catherina Anaya of CBS affiliate KPHO was part of one of those local news junkets to the White House on Wednesday. But in the span of one sentence during her 5pm liveshot, she, in her own words, “made two major mistakes:” Anaya reported things that were supposed to be off the record, then declared that White House correspondents give their questions to press secretary Jay Carney in advance.
“It was very informal and off the record,” Anaya said, before reporting what happened. “[Carney] talked about how he gets his day started, all the information he needs to be aware of in case he’s asked certain questions in the daily press briefings.”
Anaya then caused an uproar with this statement: “One of the things I found interesting is reporters and correspondents, unless it is breaking news, they provide questions to him in advance so he is already preparing for the answer.” The press secretary, and the press, fired off Tweets in response:
.@RalstonReports Briefings would be a lot easier if this were true! Rest assured, it is not.
— Jay Carney (EOP) (@PressSec) March 20, 2014
story dead wrong RT @danielhalper Reporter: WH Press Secretary Gets Questions from Reporters Before Press Briefing http://t.co/1OUfNTy6RI
— Ed Henry (@edhenryTV) March 20, 2014
Last night, Anaya apologized for her “bad reporting.”
“Last night during my live reports from the White House I attempted to describe the highlights of the day. I was speaking off the cuff and unscripted and in the process I made two major mistakes: I reported an off the record conversation and what I reported was not accurate. I took a conversation about the preparation for a press briefing and muddied it with my own experience of wanting to provide a question for the press briefing. I incorrectly applied the process to everyone. That was wrong and it was bad reporting. But it was not intentional and I would never purposely report inaccurate information. The White House never asked for my questions in advance and never instructed me what to ask. I chose to provide one of my questions in advance of the press briefing because I wanted to make sure it would have broad appeal. I did not attribute or report factually last night and for that I deeply apologize. I pride myself on truth and objectivity. I sincerely regret any harm I’ve caused and I hope that you will continue to place your trust in the hardworking journalists who make up CBS 5 News.”
Still, other tvnewsers, like “Fox & Friends” Steve Doocy, aren’t going to let this one slide:
Hey #JayCarney, here are the questions I’ll ask you NEXT time: How’s your bracket, Jay? (act surprised) Did you have Dayton? #ThankYou
— Steve Doocy (@sdoocy) March 20, 2014