Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 21 June 2017
Clamping down, Trump team puts the ‘brief’ in press briefing

By JULIE BYKOWICZ set at the top.
Associated Press “For many decades, it has
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- been accepted that the
dent Donald Trump’s White White House is the peo-
House is putting the “brief” ple’s house, and that the
in press briefings. administration has an obli-
Sean Spicer, the embat- gation to come before the
tled press secretary, spoke people as represented by
for 30 minutes Tuesday and the press,” Boardman said.
didn’t answer a number “This is far more than just
of basic questions, includ- a spat between reporters
ing whether the president and the White House. It’s
believes Russia interfered something people really
in the 2016 election and ought to care about.”
whether Trump had seen Trump has swapped open
the hotly debated Senate discussion about politics
health care bill. and policy for his favored
Once more freewheeling forms of one-way commu-
exchanges, White House nication.
press briefings have been His frequent social media
shrinking both in length posts — more than a doz-
and content as Trump’s se- en Monday and Tuesday
nior aides clamp down on alone — are read by mil-
information and contend White House press secretary Sean Spicer points to a question during a briefing at the White House, lions of Twitter followers.
with the president’s own Tuesday, June 20, 2017 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) “The Fake News Media
lack of message discipline hates when I use what has
and preference for speak- to avoid question-and- turned out to be my very
ing directly to his fan base. best approach to public dential tradition of holding answer sessions sure to be powerful Social Media -
The administration has information has become a news conference over- dominated by the unwel- over 100 million people!
erected other barriers to more pronounced since seas and provided only come topic. I can go around them!”
transparency as well, such Trump returned from his limited public press brief- Those developments may Trump boasted last week
as refusing to make its visi- nine-day, five-nation tour in ings. About the same time, have reinforced what was on Twitter.
tor logs public. And Trump late May. probes into Russian elec- already on Trump’s mind: “The president has a long
hasn’t held a full press con- White House officials be- tion interference and the On May 12, he had tweet- history of communicat-
ference since February or lieved the trip garnered Trump campaign’s possible ed, “Maybe the best thing ing directly with people
participated in interviews good coverage even role in it provided fresh in- to do would be to cancel through social media that
since the end of April. though the president es- centive for the president all future ‘press briefings’ has worked out very well
The White House’s less-is- chewed a longtime presi- and White House officials for him in the past,” said
and hand out written re-
sponses for the sake of ac- Katrina Pierson, a former
curacy???” Trump campaign spokes-
White House communica- woman. “Many people
tions officials “obviously are no longer getting their
feel it has ceased to pay information from tradition-
dividends” to follow their al media sources anyway.”
predecessors’ press strat- On Wednesday he’s
egy, said Eric Dezenhall, headed to Cedar Rapids,
who worked on President Iowa, for his fifth political
Ronald Reagan’s commu- rally since taking office.
nications team and leads Such events are attended
a public relations firm in by thousands of Trump’s
Washington. “They’ve de- fans, an audience that is
cided to bypass the media screened and selected by
completely and stop pre- his re-election campaign.
tending there’s anything to The remarks are often car-
gain.” ried live by cable stations.
Dezenhall said that while But those forms of commu-
he understands the strat- nication are eroding dis-
egy, “it’s terrifying from a course, said Kathleen Hall
democracy standpoint.” Jamieson, director of the
David Boardman, chair- Annenberg Public Policy
man of the Reporters Com- Center at the University of
mittee for Freedom of the Pennsylvania.
Press, said Trump’s meth- “You get assertion but no
od of communicating via argument. You get at-
Twitter creates a compel- tack but no justification,”
ling need “to follow up on she said. “These are ideal
those 140-character proc- formats for someone who
lamations with questions.” does not want to be held
He said a trend toward less accountable. You’re be-
transparency has rippled ing asked to accept on
through all levels of govern- authority that this is all that
ment, and the approach is you need to know.” q