The White House Correspondents’ Association is “not satisfied” with recent White House briefings that have been held off camera, and is pushing the White House to return to a regular schedule of televised briefings.
“We are not satisfied with the current state-of-play, and we will work hard to change it,” said WHCA President Jeff Mason in a statement Friday.
WHCA note on White House briefings. pic.twitter.com/V9o2z4SXDi
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) June 23, 2017
Mason, a reporter for Reuters, said he spoke Thursday with White House spokesman Sean Spicer and deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders about the off-camera briefings.
“As you all know, the WHCA board represents a diverse set of interests inside the press corps, including journalists who need video and sound to tell Americans what the government is doing in their name,” Mason said. “So it is also with that in mind that we have urged the White House not to replace on-camera briefings with ‘gaggles,’ not-for-broadcast question & answer sessions.”
Most of the briefings since Trump took office have been held each weekday and on-camera, but recently the White House has instructed reporters not to air the briefings live or record them on video.
TV reporters say this puts their outlets at a disadvantage, but Spicer has complained that some reporters who attend the briefing use the events to grandstand and “become YouTube stars.”
The WHCA oversees much of the setup of the briefing room, such as seating assignments for member reporters. It also helps manage the White House pool reports, dispatches from the designated journalists following the president’s public activity each day.
