A new, eyebrowing report suggests the White House communications team has attempted to screen questions for press secretary Jen Psaki ahead of the daily briefings, as media watchdogs warn that the Biden team will need to walk a fine line given the way reporters are president. treated. Trump’s spokespersons.
Spectator USA editor Amber Athey, who was formerly a White House correspondent for The Daily Caller, has never witnessed anything resembling what Biden’s communications officers were accused
“The Trump administration certainly never asked me any questions beforehand and I suspect there would have been universal outrage from reporters if they had,” Athey told Fox News.
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Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, speaks at a press conference at the White House, Monday, January 25, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)
Reporters have reportedly become so frustrated with the practice that they have complained to colleagues.
“This is completely normal procedure if you live in a banana republic, it is absolutely unheard of in this country,” conservative strategist Chris Barron told Fox News.
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When a White House spokesman was reached for comment, Fox News provided the same statement in the Daily Beast’s report.
“Our goal is to make the daily briefing as useful and informative as possible for reporters and the public alike. Part of achieving that goal means consulting regularly with the reporters who will be in the briefing room to understand how the White House is doing. can be most helpful to give them the information they need. That two-way conversation is an important part of keeping the American people informed about how the government is serving them, ”said the White House spokesman.
Psaki, a former CNN expert who is typically lauded by the mainstream media, should act lightly when examining reporters for all the wrong reasons, said DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall.
The White House press office must weigh this issue carefully. On one level, it makes sense that the press secretary should be prepared in advance to respond as best he can to topics that concern reporters. Experienced reporters may find that press secretary Psaki pre-screens questions or prepares a spin, ”McCall told Fox News.
Any press briefing is a risk situation for the White House and Psaki should indeed be responsive and prepared for reporters’ questions. The key here seems to be whether this process is used to organize the briefings or just to prepare for them. “
McCall believes it would be excusable for reporters to be asked questions ahead of time “just as a way to get a warning and gather information ahead of time” with the aim of providing responsive answers.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks to reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, January 21, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo / Alex Brandon)
“However, if the process is designed to get around tricky questions or prepare rhetorical coverage, then the risk factor is eliminated and the pressers look staged,” McCall said. The White House press force should expect to be able to ask questions that have not been pre-screened. That’s partly because reporters don’t always want to specify ahead of time what questions they want to ask, and partly because the ebb and flow of each press creates opportunities for improvised questions that wouldn’t have seemed obvious beforehand. “
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Dan Gainor, vice president of the Media Research Center, believes most White House reporters are already making it easy against Biden and his team, but knowing ahead of time is another way the administration can benefit from a cozy relationship with the media.
“The left is demanding 100 percent loyalty from the press, not the 99 percent they already get,” Gainor told Fox News.
“In this case, Jen Psaki needs all the help she can get,” Gainor continued. “It’s clear she plays in the minor league, even in the softball game that the press plays with Team Biden.”
In 2009, then-CBS News White House correspondent Chip Reid and columnist Helen Thomas got into a heated confrontation with then-press secretary Robert Gibbs when it was revealed that President Obama’s White House was being questioned for an online town hall.
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“It just feels really tightly controlled,” said Reid at the time. “This sounds like a very tightly controlled audience and a list of questions. Why are you doing it that way? Why don’t you open it up to the public?”
Thomas agreed: “I am amazed at you people who want openness and transparency.”
Gainor believes that Biden’s White House “tried to solve the game faster” than the previous Democratic administration.
“When the Obama administration did that in 2009, they waited until at least mid-year,” Gainor said, noting that he doesn’t expect anyone to complain like Reid and Thomas did more than a decade ago.
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“In today’s cancellation culture, journalists don’t dare to be open in their criticism, which is why this story is all a whisper,” said Gainor.
The White House Correspondents Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox News’ Kristine Biddle contributed to this report.