07-02-2009 HELEN THOMAS & CHIP REID UNLOAD ON WHITE HOUSE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY She is 89 and known as the dean of White House correspondents. She has been covering the White House since 1960. He was named CBS News' Chief White House Correspondent in January. But Helen Thomas and Chip Reid both unloaded on White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and the Obama administration for hosting pre-packaged town halls and complaining of a "pattern of controlling the press." Reid began by questioning the Obama administration's lack of transparency in its planned town hall. Thomas then picked up on the line of questioning (see video). "Not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press the way President Obama is trying to control the press," she said in an interview later in the day. “Nixon didn’t try to do that,” “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try. What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.”
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