The president of the White House Correspondents Association criticized Daily Caller reporter Neil Munro for repeatedly interrupting President Obama today during an event, calling it “discourteous” and “not the way reporters who cover the White House conduct themselves.”

Caren Bohan, a Reuters White House correspondent and current WHCA president, made the comments in a phone interview with Media Matters this afternoon.

“It was discourteous and it's not the way reporters who cover the White House conduct themselves,” Bohan said in the interview. “I've covered a number of events where the president has spoken and there are times when we need to shout a question to him. But typically reporters wait until he has finished speaking.”

Bohan also said that Munro is an associate member of the WHCA, not a regular member.

According to the WHCA website, an associate member “must be employed on the editorial staff of a newspaper, magazine, wire service, radio, TV, cable TV or other broadcast organization or newsgathering organization that reports on the White House. Associate members may not vote or hold elective office.”

Asked if Munro's membership would be affected by this incident, Bohan said such decisions are up to the WHCA executive board.

Three former WHCA presidents, meanwhile, also weighed in on the situation.

Ed Chen, a former Bloomberg White House correspondent and WHCA president during the 2009-2010 term, said in an email that Munro: “Betrays a shocking disrespect for the office. He owes the president a written apology.” Chen also described it as “Rude. Forgot the manners he must have been taught once upon a time.”

Ron Hutcheson, a former McClatchy White House correspondent and WHCA president in 2004-2005, stated: “Aggressive journalism serves our democracy. Rudeness serves no useful purpose. This was rudeness.”

C-SPAN host and political editor Steve Scully, a former WHCA board member and former president, told Media Matters that Munro's actions were unusual.

“Anytime the president is delivering remarks from The White House, there has been a long standing tradition for the POTUS to make his statements, almost always followed by questions by the press corps,” Scully said in an email. “It was indeed unusual for the president to be interrupted by a reporter during the middle of his remarks and clearly it caught President Obama off-guard, simply because it doesn't happen that often.”

Steve Thomma, a current McClatchy White House correspondent who has been on the beat since the Clinton administration, called Munro's behavior “counterproductive.”

“I think it's possible to be civil and persistent, they don't have to be mutually exclusive. You don't have to yell. There is nothing wrong with asking a question, but there is nothing wrong with waiting until the president finishes a statement,” he said. “It seems counterproductive. If you are really trying to get an answer, you can wait. He might have answered it. I would not interrupt the president's statement to ask a question.”