White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of one of the most powerful clubs in America.

Senate Sergeant at Arms Bans Interviews in Hallways, Decision Quickly Reversed

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

Tuesday morning, the Senate Sergeant at Arms staff announced tough new restrictions on media interviews to the members of the Senate press gallery.

The announced ban including prohibiting on-camera interviews in hallways, outside Senate offices or committee rooms without permission from the Senate Rules Committee, the Sergeant at Arms or Senate Radio and TV Gallery, depending on the location of the interview. Also, reporters were told that a special press pen would be created in the Capitol basement, a popular location for the media to ask questions of Senators on their way to the Senate floor or lunch cafeteria.

Bloomberg TV chief Washington correspondent Kevin Cirilli confirmed these new restrictions, tweeting he was told he could not stand outside the Budget Committee office to interview lawmakers.

These new rules were quickly rescinded later in the day.

A Senate official said the Rules Committee had never ordered the Sergeant at Arms office to enforce tougher media restrictions and suggested the announcement was a miscommunication. “Everything you did before, you can still do,” said an official familiar with the discussion.

Senator Richard Shelby, Chairman of the Rules Committee, released a statement Tuesday saying they made “no changes to the existing rules governing press coverage on the Senate side of the Capitol complex.”

Breitbart Application for Permanent Congressional Press Passes Rejected

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

Breitbart News, the right-wing online news site formerly run by White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon, has been denied permanent press credentials by the U.S. Senate press gallery.

The press gallery has requested Breitbart to clarify questions about its ownership and funding, such as several links between the site and employees and the wealthy Mercer family, who supported President Trump during the 2016 election.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the Mercers spent $10 million in acquiring a majority interest in Breitbart News in 2011.

Senate passes are often seen as a step toward membership in the White House Correspondents Association, which would allow being part of the official White House “pool” of journalists that file reports on the president and administration activities.

Any media outlet wishing to obtain permanent access to the Capitol through press passes are required to reveal certain financial information to guarantee the news organization is not tied to a special interest group.

Additionally, the Senate press gallery committee was concerned over the office location of Breitbart, which is not zoned for office use.  Breitbart had said it was in the process of moving offices.

The committee has granted a two-month extension on Breitbart’s temporary press passes, and requested new information on the application by April 18.

White House Correspondents Say Spicer Turning Daily Briefings into Chaotic Shouting Matches

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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?”

Why the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Is More Important than Ever

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Correspondents’ Dinner place setting. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

White House Correspondents’ Association president and Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason is fighting back against the voices calling for cancellation of the White House Correspondents Dinner. argues the dinner is critically important in the age of Donald Trump and “fake news.”

“It’s about an opportunity to lift up good journalism, celebrate up-and-coming journalism, and celebrate the First Amendment—that’s what we’ll be doing this year. And we do encourage our member organizations to bring as many journalists as they can, because that’s what the dinner is about. It’s also about giving journalists a chance to visit with the sources they cover.”

George Condon of National Journal also pointed out that the dinner is about the First Amendment and members of the media, not the president. “Every president is unhappy with the press, although President Trump is much more vocal and more personal in his attacks. But that doesn’t affect whether you have the dinner, because it doesn’t mean we’re honoring or validating everything a president says.”  Here is Mr. Condon’s interview with Tammy Haddad on a Podcast Special on the White House Correspondents Weekend.

Recent news surrounding the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has focused mainly on media outlets declining to attend due to various reasons: an administration hostile toward the media, lack of focus at the dinner on important media issues, alternative scheduled events, fostering a too-cozy relationship between the press and the administration.

Jo Miller, showrunner for Bee’s “Full Frontal” show, has said that this year’s dinner “will either be called off or it will probably be the most sinister, awkward event ever.”

Former Association president Ed Chen argues the dinner helps promote better journalism. “If you’re sitting next to a Cabinet secretary or a senior West Wing official, you have that much more time to establish a rapport with that person, and that can only help, rather than hurt.”

The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner is scheduled for Saturday April 29. Proceeds from the event will go also fund scholarships for deserving reporters-in-training.

CNN’s Amanpour Strikes Back Against Media Bashing

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BizBash's David Adler and CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

BizBash’s David Adler and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour struck back at critics of the mainstream media, saying her “blood ran cold” seeing tweets from Donald Trump claiming protests following his election as president were “incited by the media.”

Several statements by Trump in recent weeks, such as calling reporters “despicable and dishonest,” “liars” and “crooks” lay the groundwork for a dangerous and unstable political narrative.

“They target the press and set the press up as an opposition to the government, and they do it by subtly ratcheting up the accusations against the press — so, inciting, sympathizing, associating, actually being terrorists and subversives,” she said speaking to CBC News’ The Investigators.

Amanpour continued that Trump’s language is strikingly similar to political leaders in non-democratic countries, where journalists are regularly criticized, harassed and even imprisoned for their reporting.

“And, as you know, journalists around the world are routinely locked up, put in jail, put on trial on phony charges. So that’s why that worried me very much, and I felt I had to push back on that and take a stand against that.”

Amanpour received an award Wednesday for “extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom” by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

 

LEARN MORE:  “We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here’s What We Learned” by Laura Sydell at NPR

Meeting Between Trump, Press Execs Goes Off the Record

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Throughout the transition, much attention has been paid to those coming and going from Trump Tower in New York City.  Among recent visitors includes executives and anchors from TV news, attending an “off the record” meeting with the president-elect.

Organized by Kellyanne Conway, the Trump campaign manager, attending networks include ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and Fox News.  Spotted via a C-SPAN camera, notables such as CNN’s president Jeff Zucker and anchor Wolf Blitzer were in attendance.  Also spotted was NBC News president Deborah Turness and MSNBC president Phil Griffin.

According to Brian Stelter, other meeting participants included NBC’s Chuck Todd and Lester Holt; CNN’s Erin Burnett; CBS’s Norah O’Donnell, Charlie Rose, John Dickerson, and Gayle King; and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Martha Raddatz.

The New York Times released a statement prior to the meeting announcing that publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. “and others are meeting with the President Elect tomorrow at the request of his team.  There will be a small, off the record meeting first, followed by an on the record session with Times reporters and editorial columnists.”

A report on Politico also pointed out that even as he asked for a “cordial” relationship, Trump complained that NBC had used unflattering pictures of him.

But Trump also attempted to build the groundwork for a positive relationship between his incoming White House team and the media. One meeting participant said that a New York Post account – described as Trump giving the attending media a “dressing down” — was overstated.

However, Trump cancelled this morning’s “on-the-record” meeting himself over Twitter.

Eileen Murphy, the top spokeswoman for the New York Times, said the paper “was unaware that the meeting was cancelled until we saw the President-Elect’s tweet this morning.”

President Elect Trump Dumps Press Again

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The Press Room at the debate, Photo Courtesy of Haddad Media

The Press Room at the debate, Photo Courtesy of Haddad Media

For the second time in less than a week, President-Elect Donald Trump has again ignored precedent and protocol, travelling without the journalists assigned to cover him and his movements.

Hope Hicks, Trump’s press secretary, announced late Tuesday there would be no news or travel for the remainder of the day.  However, later Trump secretly took his family to the nearby 21 Club restaurant for dinner.

A “protective pool” of reporters covers the activities of the president-elect for the media at large.  This pool is overseen by the White House Correspondents Association, and is designed to guarantee the president is always covered while travelling.

WHCA President Jeff Mason has called on the president elect to agree to a “protective pool” during the transition.  Not allowing this, he wrote, would be a “serious breach of historical precedent.”

In a released statement, Mason criticized the transition’s lack of allowing a pool of journalists to travel with the president-elect.

“The White House Correspondents’ Association is deeply concerned by President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to reject the practice of traveling with a ‘protective pool’ of reporters for his first visit to Washington since the election. In addition to breaking with decades of historical precedent and First Amendment principles, this decision could leave Americans blind about his whereabouts and well-being in the event of a national crisis. A pool of reporters is in place and ready to cover President-elect Trump. The WHCA urges President-elect Trump to allow it to do its job, including being present for motorcade movements, meetings, and other interactions. Not allowing a pool of journalists to travel with and cover the next president of the United States is unacceptable.”

Media Calls Out Breaches in Protocol by Trump Team

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The Press Room at the debate, Photo Courtesy of Haddad Media

Photo Courtesy of Haddad Media

Donald Trump’s transition team was criticized by the media for two breaches in traditional protocol.  Both incidents centered on the President-elect’s staffers failing to notify reporters of the President-elect’s schedule and Trump travelling without his travelling press corps.

The White House press corps was not informed of Trump’s plans to return to New York Thursday after his first meeting with President Obama after the election.

On “The Situation Room,” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, a former White House correspondent, noted that “it is truly unacceptable.  The President-elect and the President.  A pool of reporters should be with them on a trip like that.”

Earlier on Thursday, the White House Correspondents’ Association rebuked the President-elect’s team for Trump leaving his travelling press corps in New York as he journeyed to Washington.

“The White House Correspondents’ Association is deeply concerned by President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to reject the practice of traveling with a ‘protective pool’ of reporters for his first visit to Washington since the election,” Jeff Mason, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said on CNNMoney.

White House defends private party

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The White House is defending a private concert held over the weekend featuring Prince and Stevie Wonder, saying the Obamas paid for it themselves.

While it is estimated that 500 were in attendance, many are surprised by how little publicity and social media activity the event generated.

Attendees included Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, singer Ciara, Rev. Al Sharpton, Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, American Express CEO Ken Chenault, entrepreneur and philanthropist Connie Milstein, and former White House Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard.

Read more via nytimes.com: Invitations to a White House Party: Signed, Sealed, Delivered, but Private
Read more via thehill.com: White House defends private Prince party