After all the propaganda and lies pushed by pro-Trump media personalities over the last four years, those same propagandists are demanding access to press briefings in President Biden’s White House.
On her very first day as White House press secretary, Jennifer Psaki returned truth and respect to press briefings, which will once again be held regularly unlike during the Trump administration. But one thing that really should change is the inclusion of right-wing propagandists in the briefing room.
At a time when the fight against disinformation is more crucial than ever before, it would make more sense to banish Trump-coddling outlets from the briefing room. After all, they are just going to spend their time harassing Biden and his team by spouting conspiracies and baseless accusations all while disrespecting legitimate media outlets that don’t push outright lies every day.
Yet, the White House Correspondents’ Association has already granted access to disgraced former Fox host Eric Bolling’s Sinclair and Breitbart, both of which repeatedly claimed that the election results were rigged and helped incite the insurrection at the Capitol earlier this month.
According to POLITICO:
In recent days, the correspondents’ association has informed nearly 20 additional outlets that they are being brought into the rotation to cover press briefings. The list includes Bolling’s Sinclair as well as Breitbart, the far-right publication that in recent months focused extensively on alleged fraudulent voting and Trump’s legal campaign to overturn the election.
Newsmax will also continue appearing at press briefings since they were granted access under Trump. OAN could be the outlier since it has repeatedly violated coronavirus rules.
However, Biden’s White House is not going to tolerate nonsense from the propagandists. They will be expected to act differently than they did during the Trump years, meaning they will have to be responsible if they want to keep their seats in the press room.
“We expect reporters covering the White House to operate in good faith and tell their audience the truth, and this White House will do the same. We are moving forward with that mutual understanding,” Deputy White House Press Secretary T.J. Ducklo said. “Organizations or individuals who traffic in conspiracy theories, propaganda and lies to spread disinformation will not be tolerated, and we’ll work with the WHCA to decide how to handle those instances moving forward.”
Again, many of these right-wing outlets do not deserve the privilege of having a seat in the press room. In fact, they should not be welcome on White House grounds at all. They blew that chance when they agreed to push propaganda and run interference for Trump. Now they think they can just waltz into the press room and start interrogating Psaki and other Biden officials.
It’s one thing to ask tough questions and try to hold elected officials accountable, but it’s laughable that right-wing media outlets all of a sudden care about that when they didn’t hold Trump accountable at all. The first time a right-wing “reporter” violates the rules should be the last time they hold a press pass.
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