Former press secretaries for Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton tweeted on Wednesday that live coverage of White House press briefings should end and the film should be embargoed until later.

“We support no live TV coverage of WH briefing,” Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to Bush, and Mike McCurry, former press secretary to Clinton, both said in tweets. “Embargo it & let it be used, but not as live TV. Better for the public, the WH & the press.”

Read more at the Washington Examiner

————–

Earlier this year, prior to the inauguration, Fleischer and McCurry offered some advice for then President-elect Trump on how to deal with press briefings:

Advice for media and Trump from two former presidential press secretaries

So, what to do differently? First, we recommend that President-elect Trump keep the press briefing, but no longer make it a live televised event. The briefing today has become an occasion for too much posturing on both sides of the camera. The president’s spokesman should and must be available for questioning, especially on those days when the president’s schedule does not include a public appearance.

As for the briefing room itself, it’s time to open it up to other reporters. While some 750 reporters are credentialed to cover the White House, there are only 49 seats in the briefing room, almost all assigned to the legacy mainstream media that dominated coverage in the 1990s. It’s time to democratize the room and let others in.

Read more here…

No votes yet.
Please wait...