The beef between The White House and the press only fired up the Twitter grill over Memorial Day weekend.
White House correspondent April Ryan found herself in a crossfire with First Lady Melania Trump’s spokesperson Stephanie Grisham after tweeting the link to The Root’s sarcasm-tinged post “Is the Trump Administration Running a Child-Trafficking Ring or Nah? Follow Me Down the Rabbit Hole” Saturday night.
If you’re a journalist w many followers & a @CNNPolitics contributor…is it ok to retweet any headline you want, regardless of if it’s true? Remember: “The core purpose of a journalist is to research, document, write, & present the news in an honest, ethical, & unbiased way.” https://t.co/aVwSrnoio2
— Stephanie Grisham (@StephGrisham45) May 27, 2018
Ryan responded to Grisham the following day by pressing her on how the Trump administration “works to discredit the press.”
Thanks April. I specifically referenced the headline that you retweeted w zero context, but ok. Hope you’re having a lovely weekend.
— Stephanie Grisham (@StephGrisham45) May 28, 2018
Grisham’s “have a lovely weekend” reply didn’t seem to ensure a ceasefire, however, as Ryan went on about how “not cool” it was for Grisham to go after her.
And that is what I am talking about. Just reading headlines is not the story and you went after me for not knowing what the story was. Not cool! https://t.co/CIcjiYevcQ
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) May 28, 2018
Ryan excoriated Grisham and a “fake news story” from Fox News for “creating an atmosphere of hate” against her.
That fake news story from FOX and your not reading the story just a headline creates an atmosphere of hate against me that leads to ugliness. It has to stop! https://t.co/CIcjiYevcQ
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) May 28, 2018
