White House Takes Question About Question Time

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At today’s White House press briefing, David Corn asked Bill Burton whether Obama would commit to holding regular Q&A sessions with Republicans, following the riveting exchange last week at the GOP’s issues retreat. Burton basically said no, arguing that the first session worked because of its “spontaneity.” This is a pretty weak excuse. If you’ve ever checked out the British parliament’s question time sessions, in which rowdy MPs grill the prime minister at length about the issues of the day, you’ll see that they’ve managed to retain plenty of spontaneity over the years (sometimes a little too much.) In any case, the White House evidently still needs some convincing. Here’s how you can help.

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Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

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