Amidst the already tense relationship between the White House and various media outlets, some agencies were banned this Friday. CNN, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Buzzfeed, and Politico were banned from entering the White House. The event was a gaggle, or a meeting that takes place in an office with the media rather than have it televised from the briefing room.
More specifically, this was a question and answer session that was held in Sean Spicer's office, and when representatives from the listed outlets tried to enter, they were denied access because they were not on the list of attendees.
Administration official, Sarah Sanders believed that the event was a "pool" event, which meant that it was exclusive anyways. She says “We invited the pool so everyone was represented". Generally speaking, a "pool" consists of thirteen groups that represent cable news, radio and print news. But, when the "pool" was expanded, some news outlets like CNN felt that it was more of a hand picked ban.
CNN says it was "unacceptable" and that "they would continue to report regardless" to the events that transpired this afternoon. CNN was not the only organization outraged by this, USA Today and Time Magazine decided to boycott the meeting to state their protest in this decision. These Associated Press believes that the general public should have as much access to the president as possible, and that transparency is key. They also chose not to attend the White House gaggle.
The White House Correspondents Association is also in protest to this barring of certain media outlets from the media. They are encouraging that the media outlets that were allowed into the meeting to share information that they have received from the question and answer session.
Several hours before the session with Sean Spicer, Donald Trump spoke out against the credibility of the media, and mocked them as well at the CPAC. He says "They are the enemy of the people because they have no sources" and they should not be allowed to use "unnamed sources". He also believes that they are the "enemy of the people" and has used that line repeatedly before.
This is an unfortunate turn of events, as the White House has already called out against the media and the fact that they are incorrectly reporting the news. While the White House may not always get along with the media, and while they might not do an adequate job of reporting the news, they should not be barred from entering the White House, especially at this time. This barring just makes the situation between the press and the White House worse than better.
