The Biden White House press office has been criticized for contacting Capitol reporters to ask them questions they will ask press secretary Jen Psaki during scheduled briefings, according to a report on Tuesday.
The practice shook members of the White House press corps, who expressed concern that they could be seen as coordinators of political officials and alerted the White House Correspondents’ Association, the Daily Beast reported.
Reporters on a call from Zoom last week pressured other correspondents to back down in the White House’s efforts to either reveal the issues in advance or simply ignore them, the report said.
“While it is a relief to see briefings return, especially with a commitment to factual information, the press cannot really do its job in the briefing room if the White House is choosing and choosing the questions they want,” said a House reporter. Branca told the website. “This is not really a free press.”
“It pissed off enough reporters that people would signal to the [WHCA] for them to deal with, ”said another.
The report noted that Biden’s press office tried to draw contrasts with the Trump administration’s most contentious relationship with the press corps, and Psaki makes an effort to call all reporters at the daily briefings.
And she said the White House and the reporters covering it have a “common goal, which is to share accurate information with the American people”.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment, but a spokesman did not deny the practice to the Daily Beast, saying it is contacting reporters to assess its interests so that they do not appear to be avoiding questions at briefings.
“Our goal is to make the daily briefing as useful and informative as possible for reporters and the public,” a spokesman told the Daily Beast.
“Part of achieving that goal means engaging regularly with reporters who will be in the briefing room to understand how the White House can be more useful in getting the information they need. This two-way conversation is an important part of keeping the American people up to date on how the government is serving them, ”said the person.
Spectator USA editor Amber Athey, who used to cover the White House for The Daily Caller, said she had never heard of reporters being questioned.
“The Trump administration certainly never asked me questions in advance and I suspect there would have been universal outrage from reporters if they had done so,” Athey told Fox News.
Conservative strategist Chris Barron said the practice would be “normal” in a “banana republic”.
“It is absolutely unprecedented in this country,” Barron told Fox News.
But the Daily Beast reported that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, press secretary to former President Donald Trump, asked the media for an alert about their questions ahead of high-level press conferences.
Government officials from former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton also interviewed reporters before interviewing cabinet secretaries.
Eric Schultz, a former deputy press secretary for the Obama White House, said finding out what reporters want to ask helps speed up briefings and ensure that questions are answered.
“This is a classic communication job. The briefing is meaningless if the press secretary has to ask questions repeatedly, instead of being equipped to discuss what journalists are reporting, ”said Schultz.
“In a non-COVID environment, this would happen in casual conversations throughout the day in the lower and upper press. One of the few advantages for reporters hovering over your desk all day, is that you have a very quick sense of what they are doing, ”he said.