During Monday afternoon’s no-camera, audio only press briefing, CNN’s senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta interrupted other reporters twice to question White House press secretary Sean Spicer about why the briefing wasn’t being broadcast live.
“We should turn the cameras on, Sean. Why don’t we turn the cameras on? Why don’t we turn the cameras on?” Acosta asked, talking over another reporter’s question. “Why don’t we turn the cameras on, Sean? They’re in the room, the lights are on.”
But Spicer refused to acknowledge Acosta or his question, which prompted the CNN reporter to post a series of tweets about the off-camera briefings, saying the move is an attempt to “get the coverage without the accountability.”
Like the off camera briefing, this is an attempt to get the coverage without the accountability. https://t.co/VFrEsmx4W5
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 26, 2017
No cameras allowed at today's briefing so here's your sock update. pic.twitter.com/3eluwr77Sf
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 26, 2017
I asked Spicer if we could turn the cameras on at today's briefing. He ignored the question.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 26, 2017
Just a few minutes later, another reporter asked if the off-camera briefings will be the new normal, to which Spicer responded, “We’ll see.”
Acosta interrupted again, asking why the cameras were off, as Spicer called on Trey Yingst, from the One America News Network.
“You are a taxpayer-funded spokesman for the United States, can you give us an explanation to why the cameras are off? It’s a legitimate question,” Acosta said, as Yingst asked Spicer, to “get this out of the way” and address why the cameras are off.
“Some days we’ll have them, some days we won’t. The President’s going to speak in the Rose Garden today, I want the President’s voice to carry the day today, and I think, so look, this is nothing inconsistent from what we had since day one,” Spicer said.
Appearing on CNN with host Ana Cabrera after the briefing, Acosta said the White House hasn’t taken a question from CNN for several weeks, calling the off-camera briefings an “erosion” of traditions in Washington.
“Make no mistake, this is a gradual erosion of the exceptions of the traditions that have been in place in this city for about a quarter of a century now, that these briefings be held on camera,” he said.
JUST TURN THEM ON YOURSELVES, YOU COWARDS!
God, it kills me how craven this press corps is.
The US media’s cameras are not allowed. Meanwhile, the Russian media’s cameras were let in the Oval Office.
Anyone who doesn’t understand what this means is either an idiot or a traitor.
And CNN helped build it. Great that they’ve seen the light now that it’s been blasted into their faces with a one million candle power spotlight, but last summer, it was all about All Trump All the Time because ratings.
Gargh, this really isn’t that hard. Turn the cameras on. If the WH doesn’t like it, force them to have security remove Acosta from the room, then cover that on CNN. How complicated is that?
This is an obvious manipulation of the press to avoid accountability. I realize that the major press organization is going along with the new rules to make sure they have someone in the room, but it’s about time for them to protest, either by turning the cameras on and getting thrown out or by refusing to go until conditions go back to live broadcasts. Sure, the White House will likely replace them with right wing sites, and the news coming-out will be more like propaganda even than it is now, but the principle of media access should be defended, and if the WH continues to refuse then every major media source should be yelling about how they have been frozen out, and what the WH is hiding.