White House press secretary Sean Spicer said it’s “sad” that he’s been hit by some reporters for not holding press briefings on camera regularly.
Spicer said on Fox News in an interview taped Friday but released Sunday that he’s disappointed by criticism from some reporters, particularly CNN’s Jim Acosta.
Acosta said Spicer’s briefings are becoming “useless” because he doesn’t answer questions — claiming on a regular basis that he hasn’t spoken to President Trump about news of the day — and the briefings aren’t allowed to be televised.
“It’s sad that he believes if it doesn’t occur on TV (it doesn’t happen),” Spicer said.
He accused Acosta and other journalists of causing briefings to devolve into attempts to go viral with their repeated questioning about the same topics.
“Some of these reporters are more interested in their YouTube clips than they are in getting factual news,” he said.
Spicer defended the recent moves by the White House to hold more off-camera briefings as an attempt to get more substantive policy discussions out into the public sphere.
He said the White House press operation is still regularly available to reporters and works very hard. The briefing is just one part of what they do, he said.
“We haven’t held fewer briefings,” he said. “We have held a briefing in some form almost every single day.”
He added, “When you look at the last couple gaggles … that have been off-camera, they have been very substantive.”
