Sean Spicer once said only dictatorships would ban media access
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer once said that only a dictatorship would prevent the media from access to public information. And just two months later he blocked several high-profile news outlets from the daily press briefing.
In December, Spicer promised that the Trump administration would never ban press access regardless of the President’s feelings on their news coverage. When Politico’s Jake Sherman asked Mr Spicer if the new administration would limit press access, he responded by saying the media is what “makes a democracy a democracy versus a dictatorship.”
📻 Here's audio of what @seanspicer said at a press gaggle where certain media outlets were blocked from attending https://t.co/UVBA6wxHob pic.twitter.com/8zWskdydzT
— POLITICO (@politico) February 24, 2017
“One of the things that the Trump campaign gained notoriety for, and was criticised for,” Mr Sherman began, “was banning reporters and banning outlets. You’ve said, I think, that that’s not going to happen?”
Mr Spicer replied: “Look, there’s a big difference between a campaign where it is a private venue using private funds and a government entity. I think we have a respect for the press when it comes to the government. That is something you can’t ban an entity from.
“I think, look, there’s a big difference between a campaign where it is a private venue using private funds and a government entity,” he continued. “And I think we have a respect for the press when it comes to the government, that that is something you can’t ban an entity from. You know conservative, liberal, otherwise I think that is what makes a democracy a democracy versus a dictatorship.”
The news outlets blocked from the press briefing on Friday include organisations that President Trump has criticised by name. CNN, BBC, The New York Times, LA Times, New York Daily News, BuzzFeed, The Hill, and the Daily Mail were among the organisations banned from the meeting.
Instead, the press secretary hand-picked news outlets including Breitbart News, One America News Network, The Washington Times, all news organisations with far-right leanings. Others major outlets approved included ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, Reuters and Bloomberg.
