Inaccessible? Trump, 29 aides, did 237 interviews in 7 days, 33 a day

Consider Politico’s report during the transition about the White House Correspondents’ Association’s complaints: “WHCA says lack of media access to President-elect Trump is ‘unacceptable.'”

Or this one from the Hill last month, “Spicer clashes with press over access to Trump.”

But over just seven days as the administration crossed its 100 Days anniversary, Team Trump put on an explosive display of access, providing over 200 interviews to network, mainstream press, conservative media, Hispanic TV and even satellite radio — more, said insiders, than previous administrations.

The White House tallied a total of 237 interviews with 29 officials and President Trump over seven days from April 23-30, when the media was focused on 100 Days stories.

TV was the big winner, with 151 interviews. Radio got 62 and print the rest.

The president and his team also did large meetings and conference calls with regional news organizations, editorial boards and conservative media.

“Clearly, this administration provides an enormous amount of access to the media in contrast to others,” said Helen Aguirre Ferre, White House Director of Media Affairs.

Notable was the inclusion of conservative media. Of the seven interviews Trump did, for example, four were to those with a conservative bent: Fox, the Washington Examiner, the Washington Times and the New York Post.

Large TV groups also did well, including Sinclair, Gray TV, and Nexstar. Together, those three have 437 stations.

Sinclair Chief Political Correspondent Scott Thuman, who snagged the most interviews — eight — with cabinet members and Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, said the White House is recognizing non-network operations that reach into middle America.

“For better or worse, I think Trump’s team has made accessibility a priority. They seem to be focusing heavily on going beyond the cable networks and spending time with chief correspondents for the biggest companies with the most TV stations—even if we’re asking the tough questions, which we do,” he told Secrets.

“I believe it’s partially a numbers game to them: talk with unbiased journalists who report to millions each night from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine. It gives them reach. Since we’ve got that reach, I get to have frank chats with the real decision makers on occasion, and our viewers benefit from our objective reporting,” said Thuman whose company has 173 TV stations.

During the week, virtually every cabinet member was provided for interviews, as were many top White House aides.

The outreach included wire services, websites such as Yahoo, the Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal news shop and Telemundo and Univision.

And of course the big network and cable TV names got access to top officials including ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, CBS Face the Nation host John Dickerson, Fox & Friends, NBC’s Chuck Todd, Today’s Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie, and PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff.

Inaccessible? It depends on who is asked. Politico, for example, asked White House reporters to judge the Trump team, and 38 percent said there is less access than in previous administrations. But 42 percent said it is “about the same,” and 21 percent have seen more.

White House Spokesman Sean Spicer believes the administration has got the balance with the media right. He told CBS This Morning this week:

“We feel very good about the relationship that exists. And I understand the press is always going to want more access, more transparency. And we do our best to make sure that they have access to the president, to leaders — throughout the White House and the government. But we want to make sure that it’s fair coverage. And I think that’s where I think a lot of the tension comes is when you take an issue out of context or try to create a narrative that isn’t there.”

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]