Reporters spar with Gibbs in White House Briefing Room

Two White House reporters, Chip Reid and Helen Thomas were less than pleased with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs Wednesday.

The issue at hand is questions that were to be asked during President Obama's health care town hall Wednesday. In the early morning briefing, Thomas and Reid both pressed Gibbs on the fact the White House picked the questions for the town hall ahead of time. The encounter was reported by CBS blogger Brian Montopoli.

"It just feels very tightly controlled," Reid said. "It feels -- I mean, the concept of a town hall I think is to have a open public forum, and this sounds like a very tightly controlled audience and a list of questions. Why do it that way? Why not open it up to the public?"

"How about we do this -- how about you can ask me that question tomorrow based on what questions were asked rather than preselecting your question based on something that may or may not come through," Gibbs replied.

Following the exchange, Helen Thomas, a longtime columnist, said not even Richard Nixon "tried to [control the media]" like the Obama Administration. “What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas went on to say, as reported by CNSNews. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.” The animosity between reporters and the White House seems to have sprung up over what some are calling a "placed" question at a recent press conference with the President. A blogger from the left-of-center Huffington Post was called the night before a press conference and told he would be called on to ask a question. Thomas was displeased at this, remarking that the White House "ought to be hanging their heads in shame.”