President Donald Trump’s rocky relationship with the media likely won’t improve with a troubling announcement made last week: that the administration will choose which reporters get to attend White House briefings.
The briefing room has become a busy and crowded place as more forms of media like bloggers and the foreign press want a place in the small space of the West Wing. When the Trump administration offered to move the briefings to a larger space, reporters were unsure due to the new location. The Trump administration then decided to do something a little less democratic. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said:
“We have so many people that want to go in, so we’ll have to just have to pick the people to go into the room – I’m sure other people will be thrilled about that.”
Picking which reporters get a spot in the briefing room is traditionally the job of the White House Correspondents Association, a nonpartisan group representing the reporters who cover and travel with the President. By allowing the Association to pick, politicians can avoid the appearance of playing favorites and controlling the media. But of course, the Trump administration has to do things differently.
By attempting to bend the media to his will, Trump is continuing a dangerous precedent of flirting with crossing the line of the freedom of the press. Constant criticism, refusal to let certain reporters and networks speak to him, and now threatening to remove some of the media from the briefings room show how little he respects this core principle of the Bill of Rights.
How easy would it be to control the message when the administration gets to pick who reports it? If you don’t say something we like, we kick you out. You don’t have a job. Then it would just be a room full of Fox News reporters.
Sounds a little authoritarian to me, but I’ll let you decide.
Watch the interview with Trump here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s6wB8keTiw
Featured image via Forward.
