FLYING TIGER Trump v media feud gets ugly
SMALLER NEWS OUTLETS ARE WELCOME
President Donald Trump ratcheted up an increasingly hostile feud with the media on Saturday, announcing he will skip a century-old annual correspondents’ dinner a day after a fierce row erupted over press access to the White House.
The Trump White House triggered widespread outrage on Friday by denying access to an off-camera briefing to several major US media.
Smaller outlets that have provided favourable coverage of the Trump administration, such as Breitbart and the One America News Network, received the green light to attend the briefing by the president’s spokesperson, Sean Spicer.
The move came just hours after Trump renewed his assault on the mainstream media by calling it “the enemy of the people,” in an ongoing battle in which he has labelled the fourth estate “fake news” and the “opposition party.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association said it was “protesting strongly” against the decision to selectively deny media access, and would bring it up with the administration.
The New York Times described the White House decision as “an unmistakable insult to democratic ideals”, while CNN called it “an unacceptable development” and the Los Angeles Times warned the incident had “ratcheted up the White House’s war on the free press” to a new level.
Trump announced on Saturday he will not attend the White House Correspondents’ dinner on April 29, breaking with an annual tradition in which the US president is the guest of honour at a roast held by journalists and studded with celebrities. – AFP