For a whole year, I would enter the White House briefing room, take my place in the back corner where the Daily Caller sits, and hope to raise my hand to ask a question.
Over that time, the former White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, only called on me three times. The irony is that, on two occasions, I wasn’t even in my usual spot due to a snowstorm that kept most reporters at home, so I sat in an open chair in the fourth row.
I still think Jean-Pierre picked me simply because she ran out of other options.
Covering the Biden-Harris administration felt quite different. The briefings were less lively, with fewer reporters showing up. Some days, we just turned to KJP and asked if there was anything new on the president’s schedule.
Only a limited number of media outlets were allowed in the room. The more conservative ones, like ours, included the Washington Examiner, Newsmax, the New York Post, One America News, the Daily Mail, Fox Business, the Wall Street Journal, and Fox News. With the exception of OAN, all of us had a place in the briefing room, but only Fox and the WSJ were regularly acknowledged.
It felt like we were this small group of outliers. Jean-Pierre seldom acknowledged anyone beyond the third or fourth row, favoring familiar mainstream outlets that were more sympathetic to her and the president.
We often laughed about it in the back. James Rosen, then the correspondent for Newsmax, was one of the few brave enough to challenge this routine. He’d shout follow-up questions or sometimes interrupt to get her attention.
As President Biden’s condition declined, the atmosphere in the room grew tenser. Before he exited the race for the 2024 election, Kelly O’Donnell, the White House Correspondent Association President from NBC News, asked Jean-Pierre if the president was genuinely committed to running. She even suggested inviting Biden to speak for himself.
“If he’s awake,” Rosen called from the back.
“That’s inappropriate,” O’Donnell retorted sharply.
“As your colleague, the president of the WHCA, pointed out, that’s inappropriate,” Jean-Pierre added.
This kind of interaction was pretty standard during those years. Reporters who interrupted were often branded as “unprofessional” and received rebukes from their peers.
Yet, the remark didn’t feel inappropriate. Just days earlier, it was reported that the president could only be relied on from 10 AM to 4 PM, with verbal slip-ups occurring outside those times. The day after this exchange, another report emerged indicating Biden informed over 20 Democratic governors that he needed more rest and urged them to avoid scheduling events after 8 PM.
During Biden’s administration, conservative journalists found themselves marginalized, and access to the president became more limited. On one occasion, the White House decided to restrict attendance at a Biden speech to select media, barring outlets like the Daily Caller, New York Post, and Fox News Radio. When Steven Nelson of the New York Post refused to leave because there was still room, it highlighted the issue.
The administration also implemented new guidelines about which journalists could enter the briefing room or attend presidential events. Moreover, after rescinding the press credentials of 442 journalists, the White House Correspondents’ Association maintained a carefully neutral stance, according to a report in the Washington Post.
Charlie Spiering, now with the Daily Mail, reflected on his experiences as Breitbart’s White House reporter. He had to request daily passes for a year before finally receiving a permanent one from the Obama White House. The WHCA, however, only provided Breitbart limited opportunities to secure a regular presence in the press pool, and when the Senate Daily Press Gallery withdrew Breitbart’s congressional credentials, the WHCA eventually expelled the outlet from membership.
I mention these incidents because being a White House reporter this week has been particularly fraught.
On Friday, President Trump made headlines by banning Politico, MS NOW, and CNN from the White House, resulting in their credentials being deactivated. In a display of unity, other television networks refused to air Trump’s press statements or take part in the press pool. When I sat in the briefing room on Monday, it was surreal to hear murmurs among reporters discussing the current state of the press community. Seeing CNN’s area dark and vacant was striking, and some correspondents ended up broadcasting live outside the White House, expressing disbelief that their own badges were still functional while those of their colleagues from Politico, MS NOW, and CNN were not.
I want to be clear: I don’t think any administration should dictate who gets to cover them or who’s allowed in the room.
However, I’m struggling to feel sympathy for my colleagues at those outlets. They haven’t historically been allies for those of us outside their circle.
There have been varying degrees of support from different WHCA presidents, with some improvements for right-leaning media within the association. Still, I doubt they would stand by me or my colleagues if a Democratic administration were to pull similar tactics in the future. We’ve seen how things played out. Honestly, I felt practically invisible to my WHCA colleagues until the Trump administration began acknowledging me during briefings.
I would like to support my fellow reporters. The First Amendment isn’t exclusive to certain members. The real question is whether they’ll recall this principle the next time they’re the ones facing exclusion.
