CNN and other news outlets were blocked on Friday from
attending an off-camera White House press briefing that other reporters
were hand-picked to attend, raising alarm among media organizations and
First Amendment watchdogs.
The decision struck veteran White
House journalists as unprecedented in the modern era, and escalated
tensions in the already fraught relationship between the Trump
administration and the press.
The New York Times, the Los Angeles
Times, Politico, BuzzFeed, the BBC and the Guardian were also among
those excluded from the meeting, which was held in White House press
secretary Sean Spicer's office. The meeting, which is known as a gaggle,
was held in lieu of the daily televised Q-and-A session in the White
House briefing room.
When reporters from these news organizations
tried to enter Spicer's office for the gaggle, they were told they
could not attend because they were not on the list of attendees.
In
a brief statement defending the move, administration spokeswoman Sarah
Sanders said the White House "had the pool there so everyone would be
represented and get an update from us today."
The White House
press pool usually includes representatives from one television outlet,
one radio outlet and one print outlet, as well as reporters from a few
wire services. In this case, four of the five major television networks
-- NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox News -- were invited and attended the meeting,
while only CNN was blocked.
And while The New York Times was kept
out, conservative media organizations Breitbart News, The Washington
Times and One America News Network were also allowed in.
"This is
an unacceptable development by the Trump White House," CNN said in a
statement. "Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts
they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless."
New York Times
executive editor Dean Baquet wrote, "Nothing like this has ever
happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple
administrations of different parties. We strongly protest the exclusion
of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media
access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national
interest."
The White House press office had informed reporters
earlier that the traditional, on-camera press briefing would be replaced
by a gaggle in Spicer's office, reporters in attendance said. Asked
about the move by the White House Correspondents Association, the White
House said it would take the press pool and invite others as well.
The
WHCA protested that decision on the grounds that it would unfairly
exclude certain news organizations, the reporters said. The White House
did not budge, and when reporters arrived at Spicer's office, White
House communications officials only allowed in reporters from specific
media outlets.
CNN reporters attempted to access the gaggle when
it began at about 1:45 p.m. ET. As they walked with a large group of
fellow journalists from the White House briefing room toward Spicer's
office, an administration official turned them around, informing them
CNN wasn't on the list of attendees.
Reporters from The
Associated Press, Time magazine and USA Today decided in the moment to
boycott the briefing because of how it was handled.
Asked during
the gaggle whether CNN and The New York Times were blocked because the
administration was unhappy with their reporting, Spicer responded: "We
had it as pool, and then we expanded it, and we added some folks to come
cover it. It was my decision to expand the pool."
Several news outlets spoke out against the White House's decision.
"The
Wall Street Journal strongly objects to the White House's decision to
bar certain media outlets from today's gaggle," a Journal spokesman
said. "Had we known at the time, we would not have participated and we
will not participate in such closed briefings in the future."
The
White House move was called "appalling" by Washington Post Executive
Editor Marty Baron, who said the Trump administrationPost Executive
Editor Marty Baron, who said the Trump administration is on "an
undemocratic path."
Politico editor-in-chief John Harris said
that "selectively excluding news organizations from White House
briefings is misguided."
Said BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith:
"While we strongly object to the White House's apparent attempt to
punish news outlets whose coverage it does not like, we won't let these
latest antics distract us from continuing to cover this administration
fairly and aggressively."
The Associated Press said it "believes the public should have as much access to the president as possible."
The White House Correspondents Association also protested the move.
"The
WHCA board is protesting strongly against how today's gaggle is being
handled by the White House," it said in a statement. "We encourage the
organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in
the press corps who were not. The board will be discussing this further
with White House staff."
Hours earlier, at the Conservative
Political Action Conference outside Washington, President Trump mocked
and disparaged the news media. He said that much of the press represents
"the enemy of the people."
"They are the enemy of the people because they have no sources," Trump said. "They just make them up when there are none."
He also said reporters "shouldn't be allowed" to use unnamed sources.
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