CNN reports that several news organizations were blocked Friday from an off-camera White House press briefing, known as a gaggle which is less formal than a televised Q-and-A session in the White House briefing room.
In an article published early Friday afternoon, CNN says they, along with The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Politico were excluded from the meeting, conservative media organizations Breitbart News, The Washington Times and One America News Network were allowed in and The Associated Press and Time magazine boycotted the briefing because of how it was handled. The White House Correspondents Association also protested the move.
CNN has said that there was no immediate explanation from the White House but did include a reactionary statement from the White House Correspondent's Association (WHCA):
"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."
The New York Times also published an article about the incident Tuesday. 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."
Earlier in the day, CNN reported that President Trump mocked and disparaged the news media at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) saying 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.
CNN contributed to this report.
