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White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

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Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#51

Post by SonicSoul »

clamprecht wrote: post #11

For anyone who has actually watched these press briefings in their entirety: Does anyone else think these are pretty much the worst way to get to the bottom of issues? Here's how it seems to work: * The press secretary (or President, or whoever) makes a statement * He or she chooses a journalist to ask a question * Journalist asks question * Press secretary answers question in as much or as little detail as he/she wa…

I agree its not optimal, but at least the president gets challenging questions from time to time and his reaction will be analyzed by the press and people. If they choose not to answer that is also an answer. if they choose to ignore hard questions, that is also an answer. in case of Trump he gets tripped up and starts blatantly lying and blaming everyone else. it works

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#52

Post by skolos »

jerf wrote: post #25
skolos wrote: post #7

Is there a historic precedent for this?

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/63167-congression... It's not a 100% precise match, but I'd look dimly on anyone trying to argue it's completely different somehow. Reverse the affiliations and you'd almost think it was written today. (Almost.)

This article also mentions another case:

> no such similar steps by any president since Richard Nixon’s retaliation against The New York Times and The Washington Post during Watergate

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#53

Post by thehardsphere »

cyrus_ wrote: post #35
neilsimp1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree on the whole solidarity thing, isn't it better to have more news organizations at the press briefings?

No, it's better to enforce the norms of a free and antagonistic press.

Right, which usually requires press people to show up to do the reporting.

I mean it may not be as much of a requirement now in the age of live TV and internet streaming, but if we're going to argue about norms then certainly the norm of sending reporters to actually report on stuff is kind of important.

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#54

Post by cperciva »

rocky1138 wrote: post #29
clamprecht wrote: post #11

For anyone who has actually watched these press briefings in their entirety: Does anyone else think these are pretty much the worst way to get to the bottom of issues? Here's how it seems to work: * The press secretary (or President, or whoever) makes a statement * He or she chooses a journalist to ask a question * Journalist asks question * Press secretary answers question in as much or as little detail as he/she wa…

I feel like the modern Press Briefing in the USA is a form of the completely useless Canadian "Question Period."

As a former Speaker commented, "there's a reason it's called Question Period and not Answer Period".

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#55

Post by conistonwater »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #27
skolos wrote: post #7

Is there a historic precedent for this?

A quick google search suggests Obama did the same thing. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6156794&pag...

> Obama did the same thing

FYA:

> Barack Obama's campaign has booted from its airplane three reporters who work for newspapers that have endorsed John McCain.

> The campaign says that a limited number of seats forced it to make the tough decision of which journalists would be permitted to follow the Democratic presidential candidate in the last four days of the campaign, but the papers are calling foul, claiming they were targeted for their editorial-page positions and kicked off while nonpolitical publications like Glamour and Jet magazines remained on board.

This action is about the press briefings. What are you talking about? Do you have something specific in mind?

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#56

Post by cromulent »

clamprecht wrote: post #11

For anyone who has actually watched these press briefings in their entirety: Does anyone else think these are pretty much the worst way to get to the bottom of issues? Here's how it seems to work: * The press secretary (or President, or whoever) makes a statement * He or she chooses a journalist to ask a question * Journalist asks question * Press secretary answers question in as much or as little detail as he/she wa…

This article was an interesting view on the Putin's annual press conferences. Similar flow to what you described.

https://medium.com/@alexey__kovalev/message-to-american-medi...

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#57

Post by serf »

agildehaus wrote: post #43
yummyfajitas wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quick google search suggests Obama did the same thing. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6156794&pag...

That's hardly equivalent.

you're right.

Trump should have just reduced the amount of chairs available and warned the folks he liked, like Obama did.

Right?

God forbid a president do something straight forward without making up reasons as to why it is a noble action.

I agree it's wrong, but I'm not willing to give a pass to another president because he worded it differently and achieved the same ousting.

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#58

Post by yongjik »

mtgentry wrote: post #6

Only the AP choose to not attend out of solidarity? Shame on ABC, CBS, and the rest.

Well, on the other hand, some (relatively) honest reporters should be there to record the latest alt-truths spun by this administration. I don't want to hear "Nah, that's totally not what Trump meant yesterday, despite he literally said that, and if you've been listening to Breitbart you would understand it. Oh and there's no other source!"

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#59

Post by moomin »

clamprecht wrote: post #11

For anyone who has actually watched these press briefings in their entirety: Does anyone else think these are pretty much the worst way to get to the bottom of issues? Here's how it seems to work: * The press secretary (or President, or whoever) makes a statement * He or she chooses a journalist to ask a question * Journalist asks question * Press secretary answers question in as much or as little detail as he/she wa…

Yes, but this isn't about improving on press briefings, it's about making them even worse.

Re: White House Bars NYT, CNN, and Politico from Briefing

#60

Post by fgonzag »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #45
mtgentry wrote: post #6

Only the AP choose to not attend out of solidarity? Shame on ABC, CBS, and the rest.

I don't recall the NYT, CNN or Politico refusing to attend when Obama kicked the Washington Times and NY Post out. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6156794&pag... Shame on them too?

I don't think it was right, but it's not nearly the same. Obama was a candidate then, not the president.
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