Non-Reporting Reporters Exposed

UpShot explains:

Reporters wouldn't say Thursday who joined President Obama for an off-the-record lunch at the White House.

The Upshot noted the irony that news organizations have been at the forefront of the fight to make White House visitor logs public. Not to mention the fact that the names of those who visit the White House in August will be made available to the public by November anyway.

But who wants to wait until November? The Upshot has now learned which White House beat reporters attended the off-the-record meeting.

Here's the lineup: Ben Feller (Associated Press), Jonathan Weisman and Laura Meckler (Wall Street Journal), Michael Shear and Scott Wilson (Washington Post), Caren Bohan (Reuters), David Jackson (USA Today), Carol Lee (Politico), Peter Nicholas (Tribune Co.), Margaret Talev (McClatchy) and Julianna Goldman (Bloomberg).

Several reporters on this list gave "no comments" to The Upshot on Thursday.

The New York Times was invited but did not attend. White House reporter Peter Baker told The Upshot that the paper "politely declined because we'd like very much to talk on the record."