CNN’s Brian Karem Should Be Embarrassed By His Childish Outburst at Sarah Huckabee Sanders

The relationship between the press and the Trump presidency hasn’t exactly been a healthy one, and nowhere is the mutual disdain more evident than at the daily press briefings.

It seems like Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has at least one intense exchange per day, often with CNN’s Jim Acosta or April Ryan. But as contentious as they generally are with Sanders, they pale in comparison to Playboy reporter and CNN contributor Brian Karem.

The immigration debate has always been emotional. But in recent weeks, the Trump administration has been pushing a policy that separates illegal immigrants from their children at the border as a way to discourage more illegal immigrants from coming to the United States. Whether you support the policy or don’t, a reporter’s personal views shouldn’t affect their work. Sadly, advocacy journalism is all the rage these days.

After being grilled by another reporter on the subject, Karem scolded Sanders from the back of the room.

“Don’t you have any empathy? Come on, Sarah. You’re a parent. Don’t you have any empathy for what these people are going through?” he asked. “They have less than you do. Sarah, come on, seriously.”

“Settle down. I’m trying to be serious but I’m not going to have you yell out of turn,” Sanders responded.

“These people have nothing!” he exclaimed.

“Hey Brian, I know you want to get some more TV time but that’s not what this is about,” Sanders said.

“It’s not that! It’s not about that!” Karem shouted.

Except this is exactly about that. Good grief.

Karem’s obnoxious display of unprofessionalism was purely meant for the attention he so desperately sought. He wasn’t even asking questions of journalistic value. They were meant to shame her and the Trump White House.

This isn’t the first time Karem had an emotional outburst. Last year, he made a name for himself when he berated Sanders for her sharp criticisms of the media. That alone seems to be how he secured the contributing gig at CNN.

Obviously, Karem is in good company.

Jim Acosta regularly gets into the mud with Sanders and makes moral arguments instead of seeking factual answers. And April Ryan also has a history of disrupting briefings and making off-the-wall suggestions like the White House supports slavery and whether President Trump should “step down” in the wake of the Stormy Daniels controversy.

And it’s not like Sanders has clean hands either. Like her boss, she can throw out an insult or two to the media like asserting that Acosta can’t comprehend short sentences and mocking CNN’s ratings.

So why are these so-called reporters acting so unruly? Well, the answer is two-fold. The first is Trump’s hostile rhetoric towards the press, repeatedly calling “fake news” outlets the “enemy.” The second is the White House’s pattern of dishonesty from their assertion that the firing of former FBI Director James Comey was strictly off the recommendation of Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein, the claim that the president wasn’t aware of the Michael Cohen‘s payoff to Stormy Daniels, and the suggestion that he wasn’t involved in Donald Trump Jr.‘s statement about the Trump Tower meeting. Because Trump’s own narratives are constantly changing, it’d be unfair to accuse Sanders of knowingly lying to the press. After all, it’s quite reasonable to believe that Sanders may have been lied to by her boss, which wouldn’t do as much to taint her credibility if she unknowingly echoed a falsehood.

Between the attacks and the blatant untruths, much of the media feels empowered to go on the offense, more so than to any prior administration, all who have also been guilty of lying. But it’s when they consistently inject over-the-top emotion and grandstanding into the briefings that they turn from informative to spectacle. Just look at Karem, Acosta, and Ryan: White House reporters by day, and cable news pundits by night, expressing opinion and judgment. That was virtually unheard of before 2016.

Sure, Karem’s temper tantrum fed #Resistance meat to those who vehemently oppose this administration, but he is doing nothing to help fortify trust in the media, nor to hold the administration accountable. Neither are Acosta and Ryan.

The White House press briefings have become an ugly battlefield. The Trump administration deserves tough questions, especially on subjects where they’ve either been factually wrong or dishonest. And whether you like Sarah Huckabee Sanders or not, she still deserves respect, as do reporters. There has to be a degree of professionalism between the White House and press. When there isn’t, everyone loses.

[image via screengrab]

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.