Dear press corps,

Its time for us to band together behind a comprehensive set of

principles and practices we believe should be followed at the White
House.
Many of you have helped us draft a working version of such a thing
over the last nine months, whether youve been interviewed by a
board member, taken part in a working group or emailed your thoughts
to one of us.
We are especially indebted to the leaders of a Member Committee that
put in a great deal of time, debate and discussion. Many thanks to
Peter Baker of the NYT, Jon Karl of ABC, Alexis Simendinger of RCP, Josh
Lederman of AP, Zeke Miller of Time, David Nakamura of the
Washington Post and Win McNamee of Getty Images.
The board updated these documents based on their recommendations,
and we now submit them to all of you for your consideration. They are
attached to this email.
With this distribution today, we kick off a one-month comment period.
We ask that you take time to read and think about the works attached
to this letter, and to put your thoughts in writing. In May, well have a
Town Hall meeting to discuss them.
Our end goal is a statement we all support a shared vision of an open
and transparent White House. If we all stand behind it together, it can
be a very powerful document, not just for this White House, but for
administrations to come.
This is the perfect week to distribute this document. We are looking
forward to our annual dinner, a rite of spring in which we, the members
of the White House press corps, commit ourselves publicly to the
common goals that bind us together: Openness, transparency, press
freedom. This is what we stand for.
Read these documents. Talk them over in the pool. Debate them on the
google lists. Write down your thoughts and email them to us.
It only works if we all join together TV, Radio, Wires, Print, Stills,
Foreign Press and Digital to finalize a document that represents all of
us and the readers, viewers and listeners who rely on us.
Sincerely,

The WHCA Board

Christi Parsons
Carol Lee
Jeff Mason
Margaret Talev
Scott Horsley
Olivier Knox
Major Garrett
Todd Gillman
Doug Mills