James Brady Press Briefing Room, 2007. Photo courtesy Wikipedia.
Long-time reporters covering the White House have complained that the Trump administration is purposefully utilizing inexperienced conservative bloggers to reduce press secretary Sean Spicer’s daily briefings to little more than chaotic shouting matches.
CBS News White House correspondent Major Garrett said the inclusion of right-wing bloggers has reduced the quality of questions during daily briefings.
“[Mainstream, experienced journalists] ask questions that are sharper, more informed. Not ‘What’s your message today?’… not ‘Here’s a paintbrush; would you paint us a pretty picture?,” Garrett said in an interview with The New Yorker.
Another television journalist, declining to speak on the record, said the current situation does little more than inject chaos into the briefings.
“Maybe you’ll get a question, if you should loud enough. Who knows?… [The inclusion of bloggers] makes everyone desperate and competitive and makes us look like a bunch of braying jackals. Which I don’t think is an accident.”
Most conservative bloggers, newly included in the daily briefings by the Trump administration, are under 30 years old and have never worked for a “mainstream” or outlet, instead working for pro-Trump blogs.
The television reporter continued, “At what point does it start to delegitimize the whole idea of what happens in that room? When does it cross the line into pure trolling?”
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