CNN, New York Times, Other Outlets Excluded From White House Briefing

CNN, the New York Times, Politico and the Los Angeles Times were among a group of news outlets excluded from a briefing with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Friday.

Some outlets historically friendly to President Trump including Breitbart, Fox News and the Washington Times were included. ABC, CBS and Bloomberg were also allowed to attend.

Instead of holding the briefing in the White House press room for broadcast, Spicer invited select reporters to a discussion off-camera, known as a "gaggle," as Alex Mallin of ABC reported:

The Hill, a mainstream news website which published commentary that leans right politically, was among those outlets excluded. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

In audio of the press gaggle released later in the day, Spicer said that the administration usually hasn't done a full briefing on days when the president has spoken, as he did Friday at CPAC.

Asked why CNN and the New York Times were not included in the gaggle, he said, "Because we had a pool and then we expanded it. It was my decision to expand the pool.”

“You know, obviously the president gave a very powerful speech today and our job is to make sure that we're responsive to folks in the media," Spicer said. "We're here all day. We've got a big staff and we want to make sure we answer your questions. We don't need to do everything on camera every day."

The New York Times called the moved "a highly unusual breach of relations between the White House and its press corps." Executive Editor Dean Baquet released a statement in response to the incident:

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 importance.

Reporters from the Associated Press and Time magazine boycotted the briefing because of the unusual circumstances.

Many observers of the situation shared a video of Spicer saying that the White House wouldn't ban specific media outlets, adding, "That's what makes a democracy a democracy vs. a dictatorship."

However, there's no reason to believe so far that any outlet is being permanently excluded from the White House or that the press secretary's actions Friday reflect some kind of broader policy.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about why the decision was made.

"The WHCA board is protesting strongly against how today's gaggle is being handled by the White House," said Jeff Mason, president of the White House Correspondents Association 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."

Spicer's controversial briefing comes at a time when Trump has been increasingly critical of the media. In a speech today at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump reiterated his view that the press is an "enemy of the American people."

He also said the the press should not be allowed to cite anonymous sources, despite the fact that White House officials gave anonymous comments earlier in the day defending the administration. He has specifically criticized CNN and the New York Times for their coverage of him and his presidency.

"President Trump's calls for an end to anonymous sources was alarming," said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, in a statement. "It is not the job of political leaders to determine how journalists should conduct their work, and sets a terrible example for the rest of the world, where sources often must remain anonymous to preserve their own lives."

It continued: "We are concerned by the decision to bar reporters from a press secretary briefing. The U.S. should be promoting press freedom and access to information."

Senior adviser to the president Steve Bannon, who used to run Breitbart, has called the media "the opposition party."

Wayne LaPierre, head of the National Rifle Association, said at CPAC that people were hanged for leaking to the press 100 years ago.

On Twitter, a senior international correspondent from the Canadian Globe and Mail, Mark MacKinnon said, "I never thought I'd see the day the White House denied access to US media outlets still welcome at press conferences in Beijing and Moscow."

Two recent polls found that Americans trust many media outlets more than the president.

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Photo by Alex Wong/Getty News Images/Getty Images