White House Briefing Room Disruptor Simon Ateba Claims Jean-Pierre Doesn’t Treat Him ‘The Way She Treats a White Reporter’ in Exclusive Interview

Simon Ateba is not your average White House reporter. Born in Cameroon, he’s the founder and chief White House correspondent for Today News Africa, now known as a disruptive force in the Biden administration’s briefing room.

Over the past year, Ateba and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre have fiercely butted heads over his complaints, as well as complaints from his colleagues in the back rows, that they are not being called on.

Appearing for an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Friday, Ateba accused Jean-Pierre of discriminating against him and other African journalists. Ateba previously said the Biden press shop has blacklisted him.

On Monday, Mediaite interviewed Ateba over Zoom about his background and his interactions with the Biden White House. The interview comes as 50 African leaders descend on Washington this week for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the first one since 2014.

The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Mediaite: From what age did you know you wanted to be a journalist? What made you go into journalism?

Simon Ateba: I always loved people and listening to people. I love to tell people’s stories. When I was a child I used to listen to Radio France Internationale for hours. I would listen to the stories and I knew that one day I wanted to tell people’s stories. In high school, I knew I wanted to be a journalist.

But my mom wanted me to be a doctor because doctors had money. There was only one doctor in my village and he was the most decent person. He had a car, while no one else had a car. And she was like “You need to be a doctor.” And so actually, when I was in high school, I didn’t study the arts first. I went into athletics and chemistry and stuff like that because I wanted to be a doctor. And eventually, I realized that I wanted to be a journalist, I wanted to write, and I wanted to tell people’s stories.

Before Today News Africa you were senior correspondent for The News Magazine. What is that outlet? Where are they based?

I was born in Cameroon and I spoke only French. I decided to travel to Nigeria on my own to learn English. And I went there to work for The News Magazine and 10 News. The News Magazine is one of the most prominent outlets in Nigeria. They are known as people who are for democracy. Many of them were jailed by Sani Abacha, who was in power for a long time and killed many people. I traveled throughout the Nigerian states and covered presidential elections and I used to be on TV. It was a good training ground for me to really learn the nitty-gritty of journalism.

And I got to see how people live beyond the multimillionaire Nigerians. Most people know Nigerians as people who have a private jet, but I got to see the real people and I saw how many of them do not have food, didn’t have water, didn’t have electricity. When I was in Nigeria, I stayed in a house for five years. I didn’t have electricity for any single day for more than 3 hours.

What made you establish Today News Africa?

I established Today News Africa because I realized there was a void. China was rising, Russia was rising. Both of them were expanding their influence across Africa and spreading misinformation against the U.S. And I believe that there could be a publication run by an African that could focus on U.S.-Africa relations.

How do you focus solely on Africa and the U.S., notwithstanding the increase of Africans in the U.S. and Americans in Africa? How do we tell their stories? Where do you start? I realized that Africans were facing challenges in the U.S. and even though many of them had the power to vote, millions of them, there was no real impact on the national conversation. We can be part of the national conversation. I wanted to be the voice of Africa in the U.S. There are millions of Africans in the United States, in swing states, in Florida, in Texas, and they’re not part of the American political conversation.

When you went on Tucker Carlson Tonight, you accused Jean-Pierre of racial discrimination. I respectfully have to push back. What evidence do you have to back that up especially considering she rarely calls on Newsmax’s James Rosen and The Daily Caller’s Diana Gleboba, both of whom are white? Is it fair to just say Jean-Pierre simply has a personal animus against you irrespective of race?

President Biden has been in office for almost two years. During this time, us African journalists were denied access to President Biden’s press briefings. The last time we were allowed, at the president’s press conference after the midterms, it was because the White House opened the door for everyone to come in. We have tried to get an interview with the president about the president’s meeting with African leaders, all of us together, five minutes, ahead of the summit. The worst thing is the White House doesn’t even bother to reply to us.

You’re the White House press secretary. The president is meeting African heads of state and the African Union Commission. How intelligent do you need to be to understand that you should give at least one question to an African journalist in the press briefing room? Failing to do that shows clearly that she is discriminating against those people. And even when we raise our voice, raise our hand, she doesn’t even have the decency to give us a question. The level of discrimination against us is outstanding, it’s shocking, actually an embarrassment. As I said on the show, she should be ashamed of herself for doing that.

I want to sit in that briefing room, raise my hand and also be recognized at least once without yelling out the question.

Even during background calls for reporters by the National Security Council, they won’t allow an African journalist to ask a question even when it was about Biden traveling to Egypt for COP27.

Would you say that Jean-Pierre is a racist?

I think she may be suffering from a superiority complex. What she does is she doesn’t treat us the way she treats a white reporter in that briefing room. She won’t give the same benefit of dignity she would give other people. She won’t bother to reply to us. I won’t say directly that she’s a racist, but the level of discrimination against me and other African journalists in the briefing room shows that she’s showing a level of disdain that almost akin to racism.

If you had been treated the way you have been by a press secretary in a GOP administration, like during the Trump administration, do you think the left-wing media would declare you a saint?

Oh my God. Imagine if Trump received 50 African leaders in DC and the White House refused to give me a question. They would brand him a racist. I’m so disappointed in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the left-leaning media. The ones writing stories about me are Mediaite, The New York Post, The Daily Caller, and Fox News. Those outlets can see it doesn’t make any sense not to give a question to an African journalist in the briefing room when you’re receiving 50 African leaders in Washington. No one can justify that. CNN cannot justify that. The New York Times cannot justify that. The Washington Post cannot justify that. I’m so disappointed by all of them to be there and just sit there.

Do you sense a double standard in outrage on both sides of the ideological spectrum (Fox News on the right, CNN and MSNBC on the left) as it pertains to the outrage of treatment of reporters in the press briefing room?

The Democrats are in power. So the White House won’t give questions to me and right-leaning publications like The Daily Caller, whose White House correspondent, Diana Gleboba, tried to ask Dr. Anthony Fauci a legitimate question about the origins of Covid and wouldn’t get an answer since she was with a right-leaning publication. So I see the double standard in that there wasn’t outrage in The New York Times or The Washington Post. I’m not seeing the outrage on CNN or on The View with Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin, both of whom are Black, standing up for me, a Black African.

Do you want Jean-Pierre replaced?

No, I don’t want her replaced.

If Jean-Pierre were to give you one last question before saying she won’t call on you anymore, what would it be?

I would ask her the question I wanted to ask: What message does this send that President Biden is inviting 50 African heads of state to the U.S., but won’t meet one-on-one with them? Does President Biden care about Africa?

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