President’s media strategy excluding television cameras creates friction
NEW YORK — White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s briefing with reporters turned testy Monday, with CNN’s Jim Acosta interrupting President Donald Trump’s chief spokesman to demand he explain why television cameras were ordered off.
Trump’s relations with the media — never strong to begin with — have taken another sour turn with dwindling opportunities for on-camera engagement with the president’s representatives. The White House has appeared to adopt a communications strategy of dealing primarily with its base of supporters, as witnessed by Trump’s two interviews in the past week with Fox News Channel’s morning show, “Fox & Friends.”
Spicer has been one of the most visible media personalities of 2017, with his near-daily briefings at the beginning of the administration lampooned on “Saturday Night Live” by Melissa McCarthy. But lately, there’s been less willingness to mix it up with reporters.
Board members of the White House Correspondents Association met with Spicer on Monday and expressed the importance of Americans getting the chance to question leaders.
“We believe it is in the interest of transparency to have regular televised briefings,” said Jeff Mason, a Reuters correspondent and president of the White House reporters’ group. “We aren’t satisfied with the current situation and won’t be until it changes.”
Shortly after the meeting, Spicer held an off-camera briefing. Television networks were allowed to record audio, but not air it live.
When a reporter noted there had been a “drastic shift” in the briefings starting around the time of Trump’s foreign trip in late May, Spicer said “We’ll continue to mix things up.”
Spicer’s answer prompted Acosta, CNN’s senior White House correspondent, to interrupt and demand that Spicer “tell us why you turned the cameras off.” Acosta had interrupted a reporter earlier in the briefing with a similar outburst.
“Why are they off, Sean?” Acosta said. “You are a taxpayer-funded spokesman for the United States government. Could you at least give us an explanation as to why the cameras are off?”
Spicer said “some days we’ll have them” on camera, some days not. “The president’s going to speak today in the Rose Garden. I want the president’s voice to carry the day,” he said.
“This is nothing inconsistent with what we’ve said since day one,” Spicer added.