White House Bars News Outlets From Press Briefing

Michael M. Grynbaum, reporting for The New York Times:

Reporters from The Times, BuzzFeed News, CNN, The Los Angeles Times and Politico were not allowed to enter the West Wing office of the press secretary, Sean M. Spicer, for the scheduled briefing. Aides to Mr. Spicer only allowed in reporters from a handpicked group of news organizations that, the White House said, had been previously confirmed.

Those organizations included Breitbart News, the One America News Network and The Washington Times, all with conservative leanings. Journalists from ABC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Fox News also attended.

Reporters from Time magazine and The Associated Press, who were set to be allowed in, chose not to attend the briefing in protest of the White House’s actions.

Every news organization should have joined the AP and Time in boycotting this briefing.

Josh Marshall:

I think it is both more accurate and more productive to see this as cowardice rather than some sacrilege against journalism.

★ Friday, 24 February 2017