Journalists Push Back on Report Suggesting Biden Spox Psaki Screens Out Tough Questions

Tommy ChristopherFeb 2nd, 2021, 2:48 pm
 

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Debate is raging on Twitter over a Daily Beast report that suggested Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki is trying to screen out tough questions, but several White House journalists are using social media to push back on the story.

At issue is a story by Maxwell Tani entitled “White House Reporters: Biden Team Wanted Our Questions in Advance,” and subtitled “PICKING AND CHOOSING.”

The meat of the story is that several sources say that “the new president’s communications staff have already on occasion probed reporters to see what questions they plan on asking new White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki when called upon during briefings,” and a reporter “raised the issue” on a White House Correspondents Association Zoom call.

The White House responded with a statement explaining the practice, which the story itself notes is not that unusual:

“Our goal is to make the daily briefing as useful and informative as possible for both reporters and the public,” a White House spokesperson said. “Part of meeting that objective means regularly engaging with the reporters who will be in the briefing room to understand how the White House can be most helpful in getting them the information they need. That two-way conversation is an important part of keeping the American people updated about how government is serving them.”

But the suggestion that Psaki is “picking and choosing” questions based on advanced knowledge caused several White House journalists to push back.

CQ Roll Call Chief Correspondent Niels Lesniewski wrote that “Yes, the White House press office reached out the morning that I was in the briefing room. In my case, they weren’t screening questions but I can only speak for myself.”

Cheryl Bolen Smelson, former White House correspondent for Bloomberg, wrote that ” When I covered the WH my questions were mostly obscure policy/regulatory/legislative in nature. I’d often email a Q to the press office in the morning knowing I could get an informed answer from @joshearnest during the briefing.”

Her comment was in response to a very intense comment by former Obama senior adviser Ben Labolt, who posted several tweets critical of the story.

Ali Rogin of PBS NewsHour shared her experience as a journalist in the White House, writing “As a former White House ‘booth producer’ who covered the Obama admin and some of Trump, it was my experience that this was standard practice for both — not to mine specific questions but to understand which topics were of interest.”

The Washington Post‘s Glenn Kessler shared a similar experience from his days on the beat.

Longtime Republican strategist Jeff Sadosky also defended the Biden shop, writing “Any press team, Dem or GOP, would be failing at its job if they weren’t trying to get a handle of what’s incoming so the spokesperson was prepped ahead of time. This isn’t new, and the reporter is exposing nothing here beyond their own inexperience.”

There were current and former White House reporters who expressed concern over the story but did not share experiences to dispute or corroborate it.

Former Politico White House correspondent Tara Palmeri was particularly vocal, tweeting the story with a double-exclamation point, then writing “To everyone asking why this matters: If Psaki doesn’t like your question, she doesn’t call on you.”

This drew fire from former Obama official Jon Favreau, who wrote “This is a lie. Tara’s lying to you, and worse, apparently thinks you won’t read the full piece: ‘In each of the early press conferences, she’s fielded questions from every reporter in the room.’”

Palmeri responded by accusing Favreau of “harassment” and comparing him to Donald Trump.

Favreau fired back “So you admit you lied then? And then when your lie was corrected you called it harassment?”

Other White House correspondents reacted to the story with alarm at the premise being advanced, but without corroborating it.

Dave Martosko, once under consideration for the job of press secretary, did allege question-screening by the White House — the Trump White House:

In an interview with Mediaite, Obama-era White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said he was surprised by the controversy.

“Honestly I thought I was in a time warp when I read that story, because the idea that that’s news or somehow abnormal or a problem is absurd,” Carney said. “That’s how White House press offices and press offices and communication shops of any kind should function.”

Carney said he’s “hard-pressed to understand” the purpose of such a story, adding “After what the country has been through, and the Fourth Estate in general and the White House press corps in particular over the past four years, to suggest that this is a controversy or a problem is almost like having been asleep for four years. Right? It’s the opposite of a problem. It’s how a press office should operate.”

When reached for comment, a White House official reiterated the statement that was given to The Daily Beast.

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