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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that the "systematic" targeting of journalists in Egypt is "completely and totally unacceptable."
"Any journalist that has been detained should be released immediately," he told reporters. "I think we need to be clear that the world is watching the actions that are taking place right now in Egypt."
And if that were not sufficient, he repeated the warning: "I'll reiterate again that the actions of targeting journalists, that is unacceptable, and that those journalists should be, if they are detained, released immediately. I know the President has been briefed on this as part of the daily briefing this morning."
The Committee to Protect Journalists Thursday released a new list of incidents, including the detention of Washington Post and New York Times reporters and a CNN videographer, the latest in a number of such incidents, though "latest" is a term that is constantly being overtaken by events.
Thursday President Obama also called on President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen to uphold the freedoms of association, assembly and speech. There are protests in that country as well.
