It is no secret how the top people at CNN don't harbor any positive feelings towards President Trump. One of the networks main contention with Trump's administration has been the lack of regular press briefings during Press Secretaries Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Stephanie Grisham tenures.
The ongoing Wuhan coronavirus pandemic has dramatically changed the amount times the White House press briefings have occurred, with Trump regularly appearing to inform the nation on the government's latest actions in the fight against COVID-19. Now with Kayleigh McEnany in the top spot in the White House communications shop, you would have noticed that regular briefings by the press secretary have made a comeback, that's if you're not watching CNN.
With McEnany once again appearing at the podium in the press room on Tuesday, CNN did not air the appearance live. CNN not airing the press conference caught the attention and criticisms from Trump's reelection campaign.
CNN and MSNBC constantly whined about a lack of White House press briefings.
— Matt Wolking (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@MattWolking) May 12, 2020
Now they are refusing to air them. https://t.co/KNaQ7jzKLt
Now, of course, CNN is not obligated to air the press conference live, but if you had been paying attention to their coverage about said conferences, you would have thought it was the end of the First Amendment when the White House would not host one for extended periods of time.
Criticisms from people at CNN have been consisted since 2017, lasting up until this year before the Wuhan coronavirus changed how the Trump administration handled the media. Entire stories on their website and segments on air were devoted to showing off their calendars that marked down how many days it had been since a presser had occurred.
Make no mistake: The White House is trying to end the daily press briefinghttps://t.co/O1ZtEjrqtL
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) July 17, 2017
Day 301 without a formal White House press briefing. @PressSec doesn't hold briefings because the president doesn't want her to hold briefings. It's as simple as that. pic.twitter.com/50GBJkVU6J
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 7, 2020
It’s been a year to the day since the White House held a “daily” press briefing https://t.co/kzz7ThK250
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) March 11, 2020
Wednesday is 100 days without an on-camera White House press briefing - CNN https://t.co/R66zAUR97E
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2019
Another day, no press briefing with Sarah Sanders.
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) September 12, 2018
It is remarkable how the Trump White House has all but eliminated the daily briefing with relatively little fanfare.
It's been 36 days since the last WH press briefing, January 28, per our @AlliemalCNN
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) March 5, 2019
Those included in this piece don't have the behind-the-scenes power to tell programs what to air, but the network has built their brand during Trump's presidency on championing for White House press conferences and when they finally start happening again, right after near-daily coronavirus task force briefings, they decide to act like it is not happening all.
Now some have argued networks should not be airing the briefings because of the amount of "lies" and "misinformation" coming from Trump or members of his administration, but that undercuts their common argument for briefings because showing government officials on-camera helps journalists to "hold them accountable."
The media wants to have it both ways, but that is not how the real world works. If anything, the hypocrisy on these televised events help inform the public on if they should be trusting the available news sources.
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