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Reporters recently complained that the White House press team asked questions in advance.
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This would give the impression that reporters are working with the government.
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The White House did not deny the charge and said it was normal to run a press office.
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On her first day in office, White House press secretary Jen Psaki promised to bring “truth and transparency back to the meeting room”, saying she had “deep respect for the role of a free and independent press”.
But, less than two weeks after President Joe Biden’s administration began, reporters are raising concerns about White House press officers who are trying to get them to warn in advance what questions to ask at briefings, reported the Daily Beast .
The problem with asking journalists questions in advance is that it can give the impression that the media is working together with the Biden government, giving employees time to create good responses.
For years, critics on the right have accused the media of being too leftist and not being critical enough of Democratic governments. A recent Fox News report argued that reporters’ questions were too easy during Psaki’s first press conference, compared to those during President Donald Trump’s administration, when White House press secretaries rarely held meetings and often refused to answer.
According to The Daily Beast, during a call from the White House Correspondents’ Association last Friday, reporters raised the issue of Psaki’s team trying to clear their doubts in advance.
Several sources told The Daily Beast that WHCA leaders have advised reporters to back down or not respond to such requests.
“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 an anonymous correspondent from White House told the Daily Beast.
“This is not really a free press.”
Insider contacted the White House to comment on the report.
The White House press team did not deny the allegation when contacted by The Daily Beast for comment, but said that routine work was needed to make press conferences efficient.
“Our goal is to make the daily briefing as useful and informative as possible for reporters and the public. Part of fulfilling that goal means interacting regularly with the reporters who will be in the briefing room to understand how the White House can be more useful to get the information they need, “a White House representative told The Daily Beast.
“This two-way conversation is an important part of keeping the American people up to date on how the government is serving them.”
Read More: Biden already has a chief antagonist. It’s Ron DeSantis, the governor of the Florida Republican Party, whom Democrats have labeled ‘Trump’s messenger boy’.
Two people told The Daily Beast that there was precedence for such behavior in the Trump administration, with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders asking certain media before major press conferences or events.
And during the Bush and Obama administrations, if reporters wanted to interview cabinet secretaries, they were asked about the essence of their questions, said the Daily Beast.
Eric Schultz, deputy press secretary for the Obama White House, defended the practice for the Daily Beast.
“This is textbook communication work. The briefing is meaningless if the press secretary has to ask questions repeatedly, instead of coming equipped to discuss what journalists are reporting,” he said.
“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 working on. in.”
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Originally published