White House reporters fume over off-camera briefings

[Equinox Moon]

Source: The Hill

The White House press corps vented frustration Monday with press secretary Sean Spicer for conducting off-camera briefings in place of the usual publicly broadcast briefings.

Spicer conducted an off-camera briefing with reporters on Monday in which the press was told it could not film or broadcast audio of the proceedings. Spicer conducted the last on-camera briefing last Monday.

“The White House press secretary is getting to a point where he’s just kind of useless,” CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta said after the briefing. “If they’re getting to this point where he’s not going to answer questions or go on camera or have audio, why are we even having these briefings or gaggles in the first place?”

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/338457-white-house-reporters-fume-over-off-camera-briefings

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This suppression of the press is very serious. We need a national march about our press.

[mucifer]

1. I suggest they channel that anger into something productive

[LuckyLib]

2. They need to walk out. En masse.

Then get to work interviewing people who have something to say.

[SHRED]

3. After reporting false equivalency...

...all during the campaign thus aiding this regime to seize power...WTH did they expect?

[Judi Lynn]

5. So true. They have themselves to thank, helping Trump mold public perception. n/t

[iluvtennis]

10. Ding, ding, ding, ding...agree

[underpants]

4. Well then f'ing say NO

Get up and walk out.

[forgotmylogin]

6. Unfortunately, I think that's what they're going for.

If the legit press walks out, all that will be left will be toadies. And that's they way they'd rather have it. If they had their way, they'd conduct all business in secret and release a page of "America was Made Great. THE END."

What journalists should do is make a mockery of them not allowing recording.

Two words. Puppet show.

Make hideous likenesses of the administration and act out the briefing like Melissa McCarthy did on SNL. They can add in all the extra stuff they want...I mean...there's no documentation that Spicer didn't take off his pants and shit on the American flag. If the admin wants accurate representation of what was said, they need to allow it to be documented.

My second thought was "worlds worst courtroom artist depiction and voiceover artists" reading the statements.

[LanternWaste]

16. What do you believe the immediate consequence would be of that particular course of action?

What do you believe the immediate consequence would be of the legitimate press leaving and the alt-right press remaining?

[BarbD]

7. How can we call this a democracy?

When the Press is silenced, legislation is not debated, heads of departments are sabotaging their responsibilities and the President is obsessed with his TV ratings. Not to mention the volatile international situation that has on the brink of war. Geez! Why are the Republicans catering only to their "base"? Is it because the Koch brothers believe that they can be easily manipulated?

[hedda_foil]

11. We can't call it democracy when checks and balances can only work at the margins.

And the cabinet secretaries were chosen specificallybecause they were dedicated to destroying their departments. Small government be damned. We are dealing with a tyrannical dictator-to-be, with his lemming like brownshirts in training, while the hired hands of a clutch of crazed, anarchic billionaires destroy the nation we have loved. Is that a bug or a feature?

[NobodyHere]

8. I never got the importance of these press briefings

It just seems they're covering the WH spin on things.

[orangecrush]

9. Accountability

The idea that the President should answer to the public.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. The UK MPs have a "Question Time" with their Prime Minister every week

http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/business/questions/

where they directly probe the PM for info on governmental operations and related events.

Absent that type of system here, the daily WH Briefings allow for getting similar info from the POTUS via their spokesperson.

The problem is, the POTUS doesn't know what the hell he is doing and neither do his staff, so the spokespeople are left to massage the bullshit blurted out by him, and mold it into an "answer" that more often than not makes no sense, and is guaranteed to be contradicted later that day. This represents the clearest case of a complete breakdown of functioning at the top of the Executive Branch.

[HAB911]

13. Boycott

let him twitter away

[lostnfound]

14. It's a good thing. Less airtime for WH, more airtime to report news

Sometimes there's too much dead airtime showing ponderous briefings full of obfuscation

[Bengus81]

15. Walk the HELL out and then go interview Dems on camera for their take on this NAZI tactic.....n/t