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Quote:(CNN) -- Press groups, prominent journalists and administration critics have all accused President Barack Obama of failing to live up to his commitment to have the "most transparent administration in history." To some, that pledge is now a punch line. But the commitment endures, newly appointed White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in an interview on CNN's "Reliable Sources" on Sunday.

Earnest, who was a deputy press secretary before his promotion in June, cited "a number of steps that we've taken to give people greater insight into what's happening at the White House."

There is built-in tension in the relationship between the president and the press, Earnest said: "If there's ever a day when the White House press corps sits back and says, 'You know, we're getting all the information that we need from the White House Press Office,' then everybody in the White House press corps would not be doing their jobs, right?"

Earnest said he had seen the letter to Obama signed by more than 40 news media organizations, including the Society of Professional Journalists and National Press Foundation, urging the President and his federal agencies to be more transparent -- to "stop the spin and let the sunshine in."

But when asked whether the groups had legitimate concerns, he referred back to the omnipresent tension between the two sides.

As the new press secretary, Earnest said he has a responsibility to "try to help the President live up to his commitment to be the most transparent president in history."

In spite of aggressive prosecutions of whistleblowers and other actions, he said that he thought the administration had lived up to it so far -- "absolutely" -- and pointed to the quarterly release of White House visitor records and reporters' access to presidential fundraisers at private homes.

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