The White House daily press briefing will not be returning anytime soon, according to Donald Trump’s press secretary, who claims she speaks to almost 100 reporters each day.
Stephanie Grisham has been criticized by journalists for maintaining an almost invisible presence more than 300 days after her predecessor gave the last briefing.
Last week, 13 former press secretaries and officials demanded the return of the briefings as “critical for the governing of our great country.”
But Grisham’s response echoes frequent claims by administration officials that the president and his team are more accessible than their predecessors, even if they use unconventional means, from Twitter posts to impromptu Q&A sessions.
“If the time calls for it, I’d be absolutely fine doing a press briefing, but, as I’ve said over and over again, I talk to the media every day,” Grisham told Fox News.
“In a press briefing, I would call on one reporter from one outlet and they would maybe get one follow-up question. During my day, I talk to five, six, seven reporters from every single outlet … and print and radio and online. I talk to — I wouldn’t say hundreds — but nearly a hundred reporters a day.”
She also said reporters abused the televised briefing by “grandstanding” or trying to “peddle their books.”
The last White House daily briefing was on March 11 last year, with Sarah Sanders at the lectern.
Grisham appears frequently on Fox News — 27 times since August, according to one tally maintained by the Washington Post — but avoids other journalists at the White House by appearing in studios rather than walking to and from TV live-shot positions along the north lawn.
However, deputy Hogan Gidley, counselor Kellyanne Conway, and Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow frequently stop by on the driveway for informal “gaggles” when reporters ask questions.
Then there are the lengthy interactions when Trump speaks to journalists on the south lawn before boarding Marine One or the impromptu press conferences held during White House meetings.
Journalists who cover the White House say they fear returning to daily briefings would reduce the number of times the president appears before the media. But Martha Kumar, a political scientist who has studied the relationship between the press and the presidency for decades, said briefings are a better way of diving deep into administration policy.
“The daily press briefing is an important communication device for the administration to coordinate among its agencies and departments so everyone knows what the administration is thinking on a variety of issues, not just what is on the president’s mind,” she said.
And she added that it served an important purpose for the White House itself. “The briefing is an early warning system for the administration so the White House gets a sense of what trouble is ahead without the president having to respond to it before they have tried handling it.”
