Eric Boehlert: White House reporters push back -- just in time for Biden

[babylonsister]

https://pressrun.media/p/white-house-reporters-push-back-just

White House reporters push back — just in time for Biden
The slumber ends
Eric Boehlert
50 min ago

snip//

After four years of Trump's White House spokespersons categorically refusing to answer questions with substance, and instead leaning into lies, obfuscations, insults, and empty promises to provide journalists with answers at a later date, it's strange that Biden's press team is being criticized for trying to be prepared.

News outlets collectively failed to defend themselves against Trump's purposeful onslaught of attacks and misinformation. Yet journalists become indignant over a minor process issue surrounding today’s White House briefings?

One Politico reporter, who writes about the White House, went on a Tuesday Twitter rant, insisting Biden's team was trying to silence reporters by occasionally asking what questions they were going to ask in advance. She called the policy "harassment" and "fake news" by another name. She stressed it meant, "If Psaki doesn’t like your question, she doesn’t call on you."

When it was pointed out that Psaki routinely calls on every reporter in the briefing room, and that to date not a single White House correspondent has claimed they've been silenced, the Politico writer insisted the blacklisting could happen in the future.

snip//

In four years, Trump launched more ugly, damaging attacks on the free press in America than the previous 44 U.S. Presidents, combined. Serious journalists should have walked away and refused to become extras in the Trump charades — refused to legitimize his scheduled rants, which were thinly disguised as press briefings. Yet the White House press rarely launched a serious response.

To be suddenly indignant about the new Democratic administration making inquiries about press briefing questions seems petty and hypocritical, given the media’s timidity under Trump.