Yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden issued an embargo for his on-the-record press call, asking that reporters do not publish anything about the call until it’s over. This includes Twitter, forcing journalists to wait to post live updates on the social stream. The reason? Journalists got to ask questions at the end of Biden’s remarks, giving him the chance to clarify any questions before it’s in print.
An email from the White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest reads:
“The embargo will allow journalists to hear the entirety of the Vice President’s remarks and get the benefit of having their questions answered — before trying to condense a 30-minute conference call about a 20-page NEC report into a 140 characters.”
Could this be a response to Obama’s “you didn’t build that” remark that flooded our news feeds, headlines, and social networks, giving the president no time to clarify his remarks, and viewers no time to contextualize the claim?