WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called it his "who's been naughty, and who's been nice" list: a checklist of reporters to call on during his traditional year-end news conference on Friday.
But the list, prepared by his press secretary Josh Earnest, was anything but traditional. It included only women, a fact that lit up Twitter as the strategy became clear.
"Covered White House for 10 yrs, never have seen POTUS call on all women reporters #unprecedented!", tweeted Suzanne Malveaux, CNN National Correspondent.
When a male reporter tried to break in with a follow-up question, Obama chided him, saying, "You've been naughty."
Obama answered the kinds of questions that would have been expected from either men or women on burning issues of the day.
Questions were asked about North Korea's hack at Sony, Obama's move to normalize relations with Cuba, how the president plans to work with Congress on issues like tax reform, and whether the Keystone crude oil pipeline will be approved, as well as the president's views on racial issues.
"I think it's great @BarackObama took 8 questions from 8 women. I also don't think America cares about this as much as say, real things," tweeted Megan Murphy, Washington bureau chief of the Financial Times.
The White House had decided earlier on Friday that Obama would call mainly on news organizations that have not had the opportunity to question the president since the November election, along with news wires (including Reuters) that have not recently conducted a presidential interview.
Television networks were left off the list because each network has had the chance to ask Obama questions recently, including during interviews.
As the White House asked remaining news organizations for the names of reporters attending the press conference, it saw its chance.
"The fact is, there are many women from a variety of news organizations who day-in and day-out do the hard work of covering the president of the United States," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.
"As the questioner list started to come together, we realized that we had a unique opportunity to highlight that fact," Earnest said.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton)