USA TODAY International Edition

White House urges media to back off its ‘ negative narrative’

First press briefing suggests new protocol

- David Jackson

After a weekend blowup about inaugural crowd sizes, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that reporters are too negative toward President Trump — part of an initial media briefing that revealed a new approach to choosing questioner­s and the Trump administra­tion’s desire to get credit for its early work in office.

“It’s not about one tweet, it’s not about one picture — it’s about a constant theme ... the default narrative is always negative, and it’s demoralizi­ng,” Spicer said in his first formal briefing as presidenti­al spokesman.

Spicer also announced a new effort to bring new types of reporters into the briefing: four daily “Skype seats” in the press room, available to journalist­s from outlets not based in Washington.

The new press secretary joked and jousted with reporters about the tense start to Trump White House relations with the press — a short and combative statement he read to reporters late Saturday afternoon about their coverage of the size of the crowds for Trump’s inaugurati­on Friday.

Seeking to leaven any remaining tension, Spicer opened the proceeding­s Monday by saying, “I was going to start with a recap of the inaugurati­on, but I think we’ve covered that pretty well.”

Inaugurati­on questions still surfaced, however, and Spicer defended his claim that Trump had the most- watched inaugurati­on in history, as well as his approach to his new job as press secretary.

“It’s an honor to do this, and, yes, I believe that we have to be honest with the American people,” the veteran Republican Party spokesman said. “I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. ... But our intention’s never to lie to you.”

Fact- checkers bashed Spicer for his statement Saturday that “this was the largest audience to ever witness an inaugurati­on — period — both in person and around the globe” — even though aerial photograph­s showed much fewer people for Trump than for newly sworn- in President Obama eight years ago.

In his briefing Monday, Spicer said Trump’s frustratio­n with the crowd- size story reflects his frustratio­n with what he called a trend: “The default narrative is always negative.”

 ?? SHAWN THEW, EPA ?? “Our intention is never to lie to you,” Sean Spicer declared.
SHAWN THEW, EPA “Our intention is never to lie to you,” Sean Spicer declared.

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