Administrations have always had some issues with the White House Press Corps, even the Obama administration had it’s problems. Back in 2013 several publications boycotted the use of official White House photographs (usually those of Pete Souza).
The Guardian reported this after USA Today joined the boycott:
A mini-revolt by news organisations against White House press restrictions gathered momentum Monday as USA Today joined other media shops to have declared a boycott on officially issued photographs.
“We do not publish, either in print or online, handout photos originating from the White House press office, except in very extraordinary circumstances,” deputy director Andrew Scott said in a memo to employees. “The functions of the president at the White House are fundamentally public in nature, and should be documented for the public by independent news organizations, not solely by the White House press office.”
I’m not sure that even the famously secretive Obama White House would have gone as far as the Trump White House just did last week. The lengths at which Trump blocked the WHPC from covering his now weekly golf outings can be seen in this tweet from Bloomberg reporter Jennifer Jacobs.
Trump’s press corps has been placed in a basement suite at Jupiter golf club. Black plastic over windows to give Trump privacy as he golfs. pic.twitter.com/8zbqi5HGSD
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) February 11, 2017
It should be noted that if the reporters had just pulled down the black plastic covering the windows they likely would have had their credentials pulled.
You must be logged in to post a comment.