Instead of waking up and heading to The Georgetowner on Thursday, I instead walked to a heavily guarded gate at the intersection of 17th and Pennsylvania streets. Yes, the White House. But this wasn’t just any run of the mill White House tour. Instead, our The George Washington University Semester in Washington Journalism program group was visiting the White House press room.
I was incredibly excited about this opportunity as it’s obviously not something everyone gets to do in their life, especially, a young, aspiring journalist like me. It was a small room in size, but the large podium up front and the fact that Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton came out to talk to us reminded me of the heavy importance of the press room.
I listened from the Reuters chair as Burton spoke on the delicate balance of what information the Obama Administration can give to the press and what information needs to be kept private. Each chair in the room is assigned to a specific news organization and from mine I was just two chairs down from where Helen Thomas used to sit!
Burton told us how much he loves his job and even gave us some internship advice. He told us to make the most out of our internship, even if we don’t like it, because no matter what we’re still learning something.
Even though my time in the White House press room was relatively short, I still think it was one of the most exciting trips we’ve made during the program. And that’s not just because I got to stand up at Robert Gibbs’ podium and take a picture!
