The Trump administration continued its steep descent into authoritarianism Friday as several news outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Politico and Buzzfeed were barred from attending a meeting with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Outlets that were invited included NBC, ABC and Fox News along with the Washington Times and Breitbart, where Trump’s senior adviser Steve Bannon was previously editor-in-chief. Both Time and the Associated Press refused to attend in protest.
The news was met with horror and revulsion by journalists across the political spectrum:
Reporters from several prominent news outlets were denied entry to an informal press briefing hosted by White House press secretary Sean Spicer. (Screen shot via The Boston Globe)
Shame on reporters who didn’t walk out of the White House briefing denied to their CNN, NYT etc colleagues.
— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) February 24, 2017
Blocking established news outlets was entirely predictable. It’s straight out of the authoritarian playbook & feature of the Trump campaign. https://t.co/lVoEcfXvBy
— Mindy Finn (@mindyfinn) February 24, 2017
NYT Exec. Editor Dean Baquet on media exclusion: “Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House is our long history” via @NYTeileen pic.twitter.com/Gmzdp5knKU
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 24, 2017
Can we have a round of applause for the AP and Time magazine which boycotted Sean Spicer gaggle after the NYT, WP and CNN were barred.
— Walter Shapiro (@MrWalterShapiro) February 24, 2017
Appalling: White House bars @nytimes, @cnn, @politico from briefing. https://t.co/kpMjWCrv7l
— Marty Baron (@PostBaron) February 24, 2017
Politico editors: today’s @WhiteHouse press office move was misguided “and our expectation is that this action will not be repeated.” pic.twitter.com/4VK4kexUL7
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 24, 2017
All news organizations must refuse to attend briefings where major outlets are excluded because of critical coverage. https://t.co/tECvGX9PGZ
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) February 24, 2017
Watch CNN respond to its barring in real time below:
Jacob Sugarman
