SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a briefing on the administration's coronavirus response in the press briefing room of the White House on March 3, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
'Absolutely Outrageous': Trump White House Bars Press From Filming or Recording Coronavirus Briefing
"We need transparency. Instead we are getting this."
Mar 03, 2020
The Trump administration on Tuesday barred the media from filming or recording audio of a daily coronavirus briefing at the White House, sparking outrage from members of the press and progressive critics.
Journalists were only permitted to take still photos of the briefing, HuffPost reported Tuesday, leading some to characterize the press conference as a mere photo-op rather than an effort to convey critical information about the disease as it spreads across the United States.
The briefing was led by Vice President Mike Pence, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to head the White House's coronavirus response.
Al-Monitor reporter Laura Rozen called the decision to ban video and audio "absolutely outrageous" and said the move "will further signal [to] the public that the Trump administration doesn't have a handle on this."
Jim Acosta, CNN's chief White House correspondent, tweeted that "the closest thing to an explanation we got as to why the coronavirus briefing was off-camera with no audio was when Pence said Trump was on camera a bunch today."
\u201cWH is allowing only still photos of this Coronavirus briefing. No audio or video permitted. Here is a photo of the VP as the briefing began.\u201d— Jim Acosta (@Jim Acosta) 1583276391
"We need transparency. Instead we are getting this," Judd Legum, author of the Popular Information newsletter, tweeted late Tuesday.
The photo-only press briefing came as the Trump administration is reportedly working to clamp down on White House coronavirus messaging. Federal scientists and health officials, according to the New York Times, are now required to coordinate with Pence on all public appearances and statements related to the outbreak.
Michael Halpern, deputy director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote in a blog post last week that Trump's effort to "muzzle" federal scientists "is a highly dangerous power grab that undermines both emergency response and public faith in the reliability of information coming out of the government."
"If this censorship and retaliation trend continues, we can expect more gross incompetence in handling the virus' spread," Halpern warned. "More people will get needlessly sick and more people will needlessly die."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The Trump administration on Tuesday barred the media from filming or recording audio of a daily coronavirus briefing at the White House, sparking outrage from members of the press and progressive critics.
Journalists were only permitted to take still photos of the briefing, HuffPost reported Tuesday, leading some to characterize the press conference as a mere photo-op rather than an effort to convey critical information about the disease as it spreads across the United States.
The briefing was led by Vice President Mike Pence, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to head the White House's coronavirus response.
Al-Monitor reporter Laura Rozen called the decision to ban video and audio "absolutely outrageous" and said the move "will further signal [to] the public that the Trump administration doesn't have a handle on this."
Jim Acosta, CNN's chief White House correspondent, tweeted that "the closest thing to an explanation we got as to why the coronavirus briefing was off-camera with no audio was when Pence said Trump was on camera a bunch today."
\u201cWH is allowing only still photos of this Coronavirus briefing. No audio or video permitted. Here is a photo of the VP as the briefing began.\u201d— Jim Acosta (@Jim Acosta) 1583276391
"We need transparency. Instead we are getting this," Judd Legum, author of the Popular Information newsletter, tweeted late Tuesday.
The photo-only press briefing came as the Trump administration is reportedly working to clamp down on White House coronavirus messaging. Federal scientists and health officials, according to the New York Times, are now required to coordinate with Pence on all public appearances and statements related to the outbreak.
Michael Halpern, deputy director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote in a blog post last week that Trump's effort to "muzzle" federal scientists "is a highly dangerous power grab that undermines both emergency response and public faith in the reliability of information coming out of the government."
"If this censorship and retaliation trend continues, we can expect more gross incompetence in handling the virus' spread," Halpern warned. "More people will get needlessly sick and more people will needlessly die."
The Trump administration on Tuesday barred the media from filming or recording audio of a daily coronavirus briefing at the White House, sparking outrage from members of the press and progressive critics.
Journalists were only permitted to take still photos of the briefing, HuffPost reported Tuesday, leading some to characterize the press conference as a mere photo-op rather than an effort to convey critical information about the disease as it spreads across the United States.
The briefing was led by Vice President Mike Pence, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to head the White House's coronavirus response.
Al-Monitor reporter Laura Rozen called the decision to ban video and audio "absolutely outrageous" and said the move "will further signal [to] the public that the Trump administration doesn't have a handle on this."
Jim Acosta, CNN's chief White House correspondent, tweeted that "the closest thing to an explanation we got as to why the coronavirus briefing was off-camera with no audio was when Pence said Trump was on camera a bunch today."
\u201cWH is allowing only still photos of this Coronavirus briefing. No audio or video permitted. Here is a photo of the VP as the briefing began.\u201d— Jim Acosta (@Jim Acosta) 1583276391
"We need transparency. Instead we are getting this," Judd Legum, author of the Popular Information newsletter, tweeted late Tuesday.
The photo-only press briefing came as the Trump administration is reportedly working to clamp down on White House coronavirus messaging. Federal scientists and health officials, according to the New York Times, are now required to coordinate with Pence on all public appearances and statements related to the outbreak.
Michael Halpern, deputy director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote in a blog post last week that Trump's effort to "muzzle" federal scientists "is a highly dangerous power grab that undermines both emergency response and public faith in the reliability of information coming out of the government."
"If this censorship and retaliation trend continues, we can expect more gross incompetence in handling the virus' spread," Halpern warned. "More people will get needlessly sick and more people will needlessly die."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.