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white house blocks cnn and other news corps


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CNN and other news outlets were blocked Friday from an off-camera White House press briefing, raising alarm among media organizations and First Amendment watchdogs.

The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and BuzzFeed were also excluded from the meeting, which is known as a gaggle and is less formal than the televised Q-and-A session in the White House briefing room. The gaggle was held by White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

In a brief statement defending the move, administration spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the White House "had the pool there so everyone would be represented and get an update from us today."

The pool usually includes a representative from one television network and one print outlet. In this case, four of the five major television networks -- NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox News -- were invited and attended the meeting, while only CNN was blocked.

And while The New York Times was kept out, conservative media organizations Breitbart News, The Washington Times and One America News Network were also allowed in.

Both CNN and the Times protested the decision.

"This is an unacceptable development by the Trump White House. Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless," CNN said in a statement.

The White House press office had informed reporters earlier in the day that the traditional, on-camera press briefing would be replaced by a gaggle in Spicer's office, reporters in attendance said.

Asked about the move by the White House Correspondents Association, the White House said it would take the press pool -- including one television, one radio and one print outlet -- and invite others as well.

The WHCA protested that decision on the grounds that it would effectively amount to a ban on whatever news organizations were not invited, the reporters said. The White House did not budge, and when reporters arrived at Spicer's office, White House communications officials only allowed in reporters from specific media outlets.

CNN reporters attempted to access the gaggle when it began around 1:45 p.m. ET. As they walked with a large group of fellow journalists from the White House briefing room toward Spicer's office, an administration official turned them around, informing them CNN wasn't on the list of attendees.

Asked during the gaggle whether CNN and The New York Times were blocked because the administration was unhappy with their reporting, Spicer responded: "We had it as pool, and then we expanded it, and we added some folks to come cover it. It was my decision to expand the pool."

Several news outlets spoke out against the White House's decision.

New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet wrote, "Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties. We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest."

The Associated Press and Time magazine boycotted the briefing because of how it was handled.

The White House Correspondents Association also protested the move.

"The WHCA board is protesting strongly against how today's gaggle is being handled by the White House," it said in a statement. "We encourage the organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in the press corps who were not. The board will be discussing this further with White House staff."

Related: Trump rips media, repeats 'enemy of the people' line

Hours earlier, at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, President Trump mocked and disparaged the news media. He said that much of the press represents "the enemy of the people."

"They are the enemy of the people because they have no sources," Trump said. "They just make them up when there are none."

He also said reporters "shouldn't be allowed" to use unnamed sources.

February 24
NEW YORK
Edited by spin_dry
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CNN is yellow journalism 2017 - so fake news fits.   At times their website's 5-6 or even more top news stories are related to  Trump and are consistently titled or reported with a bias against him.   It's so glaring it's clear they have an obsession.  It's kind of like the problem people like MC have.

Still, the press thing today was petty on the admins part and only pours more fuel on CNNs fire.

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AP walked out in protest. let's see where fox news goes with this. they're not reporting on it yet. this shows how weak this president's ego is and how much he's already got to hide. this administration is going to burn itself down. 

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13 minutes ago, spin_dry said:

AP walked out in protest. let's see where fox news goes with this. they're not reporting on it yet. this shows how weak this president's ego is and how much he's already got to hide. this administration is going to burn itself down. 

They reported it hours ago.  

8 minutes ago, Skidooski said:

Hilarious how you guys cite FNC now and wait to see what they do. 

Mental midgets.

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I'm all for media being critical of a potus when its due ....but the retarded media focuses on the dumbest shit leaving the real news out of the mainstream 

 

in short....fuck all of them Trump included

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1 minute ago, BOHICA said:

Sounds like Plenty of media were allowed in and can report on it.  The national enquire types were not allowed.  No big deal as there was media allowed to enter.

Yep.  Plenty there to do the reporting.  

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1 hour ago, spin_dry said:

AP walked out in protest. let's see where fox news goes with this. they're not reporting on it yet. this shows how weak this president's ego is and how much he's already got to hide. this administration is going to burn itself down. 

Just saw it. :lmao:

Are you EVER right anymore?

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