Gawker Criticizes Reporters Yet Still Blind to White Hous Hypocrisy

So it seems like the White House invited a bunch of press to its 4th of July party, "The party was designated "closed press" because it was originally going to actually be closed to the press." So the reporters took the bait and attended the party. See, I have a problem with both the reporters and the administration. Can you imagine the mocking the Bush administration would have received from Gawker if they attempted to wine and dine the press corps and insist that no reporting would be done at the party. Instead the Gawker goons spin for the Obama administration:

But instead of just opening up the event to coverage, which would have meant spoiling a nice backyard bash with network cameras, radio correspondents, international press, and the vast machinery of live electronic media, the White House decided that it would be more fair to the news organizations who weren't invited if they just kept it off the record. That way, the thinking went, no one's getting special access. As absurd as that sounds when you're talking about inviting a select group of reporters to a party with the president, it kind of makes sense if you have to deal with a host of news outlets jockeying for access. If it's all off the record, a small regional paper can't complain that not being invited seriously hurts their coverage.

So it's okay to control the media, because otherwise it would spoil the "nice backyard bash." It's all about not providing special access, by providing special access to select few, who the White House wants to keep chummy with. Nice. Remember the most ethical and transparent administration in history.
Good thing Gawker is honing those sarcastic skills in admonishing the press:

What doesn't make sense, at all, is why a group of reporters who have recently begun clinging to the notion that they are independent of Washington's clubby morass of back-scratching self-congratulation would agree to attend an off-the-record party at the White House while one of their own is walled off in a pen like some forlorn scapegoat, doing the job they're supposed to be doing.