Will media blink first in game of chicken?
Reporters likely being pushed to skip briefings
It seems clear, at this point, that the White House would prefer not to hold regular press briefings. But President Donald Trump and his aides do not want to be the ones to pull the plug. They want journalists to do it.
The White House is playing a game of chicken with the media, making the briefing situation so untenable that reporters might bail first.
The apparent strategy has three prongs: ❚ Turn off the cameras.
Eight of the past 11 briefings have been held off camera. The White House also banned live audio broadcasts of those sessions. This makes for lousy television. ❚ Stop answering questions.
A month ago, the White House said it would refer all questions about the investigation of Russian election meddling to Trump’s private attorneys. On other subjects, too, White House spokesmen increasingly say they don’t know the answers or haven’t asked the president.
During an off- camera briefing Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the administration’s theme of the week would be “energy dominance.”
“What does energy dominance mean?” a reporter asked.
“Well, I think we’ll continue to talk about that throughout the week,” Spicer replied. Pressed for details, he delivered none. ❚ Show t he media at its worst.
The White House picked two days last week to hold briefings on camera: Tuesday, the day after three CNN journalists resigned following a retraction, and Thursday, the day Trump tweeted a sexist attack on MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski.
These are not coincidences.
The retraction and resignations at CNN created a prime opportunity f or the White House to rip the media and deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders certainly took it. “If the media can’t be trusted to report the news, then that’s a dangerous place for America,” she said.
A couple days later, questions regarding Trump’s tweets about Brzezinski dominated the session and the optics likely helped the White House make its case that journalists use the briefings to grandstand: “See? They’re not interested in policies or hard- working Americans. They just talk about themselves.”
The White House seems to be trying to drive journalists to conclude the following: Briefings are bad TV, hardly informative and make us look petty. Let’s stop going.
Axios co- founder Mike Allen argued on Thursday that reporters should do just that.
The White House strategy is working.