Donald Trump and his administration have done terrible things to press briefings, which were once respected for being valid sources of information and communication for the press. Recently, the White House has been holding fewer and fewer briefings in an attempt to control the press and avoid conflict amid scandals, and the media is getting fed up.
Various members of the press have complained that the White House will now sometimes go several weeks without a press briefing, but we probably should have seen this coming. Trump’s White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been moving in this direction for a long time, as this first started out as off-camera briefings last year. One might remember how one Fox News reporter was so outraged by the breakdown of protocol that he actually walked out of the briefing.
That reporter was Fox’s John Roberts, who ended up getting into a verbal altercation with Sanders in July of last year. Roberts had been listening to Sanders’ lies when he abruptly stepped out of the briefing. Sanders noticed him leaving and joked, “John Roberts is bored today; he’s stepping out.”
Reporters tweeted the news.
.@johnrobertsFox is leaving the briefing. Sarah quipped “John Roberts is bored today, he’s stepping out.”
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) July 18, 2017
That was the wrong thing to do, because Roberts fired right back and pointed out how ridiculous it was that cameras weren’t on:
If it was on camera, I might not be.”
.@johnrobertsFox leaves briefing early. Sanders notes it from podium. He calls back, “If it was on camera, I might not be.” Ooohs.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 18, 2017
Roberts later elaborated on why he’d walked out, stating that he had a live shot to do. However, he stated that if the briefing had been on camera, he would have prioritized it and stayed.
To all who are musing over me leaving the @SHSanders45 Briefing…I have a live shot. Had the brief been on camera, it would 1/2
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) July 18, 2017
Would have been on TV, not me. I would have waited until it was over.
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) July 18, 2017
Today’s @WhiteHouse is off camera. The last on-camera briefing was June 29th.
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) July 18, 2017
Since this moment, there have been several other tense exchanges between Sanders and the press, as the White House continues to silence and exclude the media.
Featured image via screen capture
