Is This The Most Painful Handling Of A Reporter You’ve Ever Seen?

08 Jul, 2015 by Greg Campbell

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There seems to be this delusion amongst many public servants that they are not accountable to the people. From low-level public servants to the President of the United States, this delusion is too common. However, a recent encounter with a reporter is, perhaps, the most awkwardly painful handling of the press one could imagine.

This spokesperson had a pretty bad day last week when a reporter cornered her boss, St. Louis Comptroller Darlene Green, to ask about the $26,000 the city was spending to provide her with a take-home car.

“No, no, no,” Melanie Streeper said over and over to KTVI2 reporter Elliott Davis as he attempted to get some answers about the car. Streeper physically inserted herself between Davis and Green to try and keep the reporter from her boss, but it wasn’t particularly helpful.

Streeper had declined Davis a comment numerous times, so he marched down to city hall to try and get answers directly from Green.

Davis explained in his news story, “When Streeper saw that I had caught up with Green anyway she sprung into action. To her credit Green tried to answer questions but even she had trouble talking over her own spokesperson.”

The staffer did nobody any favors (including herself). It simply would have been much easier to allow Green to answer the questions.