VP Joe Biden Calls For Twitter Embargo

Vice President Joe Biden has added an unusual condition to his standard practice regarding on-the-record press calls. This time around, Biden won’t be allowing articles to be published until the call has ended, apparently a reaction to wide-spread Twitter usage.

Biden has made a habit in the past of adding a media embargo to his press calls, but one might wonder why the veep is so technical regarding his desire to keep the press from publishing anything he has to say mid-call. After all, notes Dylan Byers of Politico, “who would write an article during the middle of the call?” Apparently reporters with Twitter access, or at least that’s what the veep fears.

It looks as though the White House is attempting to slow the digital information age with Biden’s newest embargo caveat, as many reporters try to get news updates out to the general public in real time, notes Newser. Biden, probably not wanting any of his statements taken out of context as they are flying out of his gaffe-prone mouth, is trying to prevent Twitter-happy reporters from putting his words into the air as they tumble out.

From an email sent by White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest regarding the Twitter embargo: “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.”

But what’s the point, if reporters will just be writing it all down for publication 20 minutes after the interview, asks Byers.

Indeed, it does seem somewhat pointless. And I don’t think I care for the wording that suggests Biden is putting the embargo through for our own good, either.