White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during the daily press briefing on Jan. 25.
President Joe Biden has been in office for less than two weeks, and reporters are furious. Although reporters have been very “friendly” to Biden, the Biden team’s move has left journalists worried.
The Daily Beast, a left-media news site, reported Feb. 1 that Biden’s staff pre-screened reporters before Psaki’s briefing to see what questions they planned to ask.
“The Daily Beast, citing three sources familiar with the matter and reviewing written communications, revealed that the Biden Administration, less than two weeks into its tenure, has regularly probed reporters to find out what questions they plan to ask at the briefings.
Those requests have raised concerns among the White House press corps. Like many reporters, they are sensitive to the notion of maintaining coherence with the political communications staff.
One reporter raised the issue last Friday during an informal Zoom conference call with the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA). According to multiple sources, leaders at the meeting advised the reporter to rebuff the White House press team’s request to learn about the issue in advance or simply not respond to inquiries from the Biden team.
“While it’s reassuring that the briefings have resumed, especially since there’s also a commitment to provide truthful information. But reporters can’t really do their job in the briefing room if the White House picks and chooses the questions they want.” “It’s not really freedom of the press at all,” said one White House reporter.
“It pisses off enough reporters and reflects back to the White House Correspondents’ Association to get them to deal with it.” Another source familiar with the matter said.
Biden’s press team did not deny that its staff had solicited questions from reporters. But the White House contends that it has tried to build a better relationship with the press corps than the previous administration and has tried to engage reporters directly.
“Our goal is to make the daily briefings as useful and informative as possible for reporters and the public.” Psaki said, and asserted that two-way communication is an important part of keeping the American people up to date on how the government is serving them.
In an interview with NPR on Saturday, Psaki offered “valuable” insight into how she views White House reporters. She explained that she treats reporters like patients in a mental hospital.
“When reporters get really loud or they start asking crazy questions, I just slow down my pace, I talk very calmly, and I treat them like sometimes I’m the orderly in the insane asylum.” Psaki told NPR this, although she clarified that academically, she doesn’t consider them to be people in a mental institution.
“It’s not that they’re people in a mental institution.” Psaki said, “But sometimes, that’s all you can think about to calm your heart.”
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