President Trump tried to punish the press by keeping outlets out of a press briefing who are reporting on his scandals, but the President’s plan backfired as the press has vowed to keep reporting the facts.
CNN responded to Trump’s move with a promise to keep reporting the facts:
CNN was blocked from WH @PressSec's media gaggle today. This is our response: pic.twitter.com/8SfY2uYKEI
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) February 24, 2017
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The New York Times was also not allowed to attend. Times executive editor Dean Baquet said, “Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties. We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest.â€o
If the ban was meant to stop the reporting of information, it didn’t work.
White House Correspondents Association President Jeff Mason urged reporters who got into the briefing to share their info with others who didn’t, ““We encourage the organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in the press corps who were not. The board will be discussing this further with White House staff.â€
The Trump White House has vastly overestimated their power. If they thought they were going to send a message to the press to stop reporting on leaks or lose access, they failed to realize that they need the press as much or more than the press needs them.
By targeting the press, the White House revealed that they couldn’t stop the leaks on their end, so they are attempting to intimidate the media into not reporting the information.
The Trump war on the media is backfiring. Each hostile action that he takes against the press strengthens the resolve of reporters to find and report the facts.
Bullying the media is the best way to make a scandal grow bigger. It looks like the White House has something to hide, which is why the press is going to dig deeper to uncover the truth.
Trump’s war with the media could be the mistake that destroys his presidency.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
