President Donald Trump has made it clear that he's not a fan of the news media. After the president took his hatred for the press to a new level, some prominent media outlets decided it was time to speak out.
NYT on Trump
On Friday morning, Donald Trump made his way to the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland to give a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, otherwise known as CPAC. For the first half of his speech, Trump decided not to talk about policy and how he was planning to move the country forward, but rather about his ongoing feud with the news media.
The former host of "The Apprentice" went on to accuse the press of publishing "fake news" about him, doubling down on his claims that reporters and journalists are often "terrible" and "dishonest" people. Not long after the speech concluded, the White House announced that several respected news outlets would be banned from taking part in the daily press briefing. In response on February 24, the New York Times voice their opposition.
Journalists from The New York Times, CNN and Politico were barred from attending a White House briefing https://t.co/XBVmXIIxUG pic.twitter.com/STFHTJwvPX
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 24, 2017
"Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties," executive editor of the New York Times Dean Baquet said in a statement.
"We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations," the statement continued, before concluding that "Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest."
Media comes together
Following the media ban, many news organizations have come together in opposition to Donald Trump's deicsion to block and restrict carefully selected outlets from doing their duties as journalists.
Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron referred to the ban as "appalling," while editor of Fusion Jack Mirkinson tweeted that "If the WH is blocking reporters from press briefings than the WH briefing model is dead. Better figure out a different way to cover the WH."
Appalling: White House bars @nytimes, @cnn, @politico from briefing. https://t.co/kpMjWCrv7l
— Marty Baron (@PostBaron) February 24, 2017
If the WH is blocking reporters from press briefings than the WH briefing model is dead. Better figure out a different way to cover the WH.
— Jack Mirkinson (@jackmirkinson) February 24, 2017
Host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough, called for a press briefing boycott until the ban is lifted. Even Fox News host Bret Baier took to Twitter to express his disdain, tweeting that the briefings "should be open to all credentialed" news organizations.