Barack Obama's campaign is taking heat from news media after herding political reporters onto the Illinois senator's charter plane to take off Thursday night without the candidate -- while he met secretly with Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C.

The Washington bureau chiefs from FOX News, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and CNN, along with the acting bureau chief from The Associated Press, penned a joint letter of protest Friday to Obama's campaign manager and chief spokesman.

Brian Wilson, FOX News' Washington bureau chief, described the missive as "strongly worded" and said it addresses the actions of the Obama campaign as "troubling."

The letter was not made public, but Wilson said it complains that campaign officials declined to reveal Obama's whereabouts despite objections from the press corps as they were about to take off for Chicago.

The letter details three instances in which the bureau chiefs felt their reporters were misled by the campaign. The letter also suggests that the news organizations -- which pay thousands for their reporters to fly on the private jets of candidates -- will review whether to decline to reimburse the Obama campaign for the Thursday flight.

Reporters were returning from an Obama rally in northern Virginia when they boarded the plane Thursday.

They were initially told Obama was just lagging behind for a few minutes, but when the pilot announced they were ready to take off, spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Obama was actually staying behind for meetings in Washington, D.C.

The reporters pelted Gibbs with questions, specifically on whether Obama was meeting with Clinton.

Gibbs would not discuss Obama's plans.

"There was a desire to do these meetings obviously in private," Gibbs said on the plane. "And that's what we're doing here tonight. It wasn't an attempt to deceive in any way. It's just a private meeting."

Reporters discovered when they landed that Obama in fact had met with Clinton.

Click here to read FOX News' Obama producer Bonney Kapp's account of the incident.