To: Sean Spicer, White House Acting Communications Director
Why is Sean Spicer hiding from the press?
The Trump White House’s decision to ban television cameras and live audio from an increasing number of press briefings is disturbing, authoritarian behavior -- and an attack on the First Amendment principles our democracy rests on.
The White House must immediately re-open press briefings to cameras and live audio, and be transparent with the American people so we can hold them accountable.
The White House must immediately re-open press briefings to cameras and live audio, and be transparent with the American people so we can hold them accountable.
Why is this important?
Transparency is a bedrock value in in our democracy. Our democracy relies on a free, fair, and adversarial press to hold power accountable.
That’s why it’s so alarming that President Trump’s White House has decided to ban television cameras and live audio from multiple press briefings -- CNN even had to send in a sketch artist instead, while C-SPAN showed just the podium!
It’s just the latest example of the White House refusing to communicate openly with the American people about the decisions it makes that affect all of us -- from our healthcare to our national security.
When journalists challenged this latest move, Sean Spicer just replied that the White House was doing what “we can to communicate our message” and that Administration has “tremendous respect for the First Amendment.”
But this ban smacks of contempt for the First Amendment as well as the American people -- not “respect.”
The camera and live audio ban is part of a disturbing pattern out of the Trump Administration to attack institutions that serve as a check on power. Whether it is the President’s Tweet that the media is the “enemy of the American People” or rhetorical broadsides against the federal judiciary, Americans are increasingly aware of the hostility that the Trump Administration has shown to those whose job it is to safeguard and uncover the truth.
But we’re not an authoritarian state -- we must stand up for a free and independent press that holds power accountable. Tell the White House to drop its ban on cameras and live audio from press briefings.
That’s why it’s so alarming that President Trump’s White House has decided to ban television cameras and live audio from multiple press briefings -- CNN even had to send in a sketch artist instead, while C-SPAN showed just the podium!
It’s just the latest example of the White House refusing to communicate openly with the American people about the decisions it makes that affect all of us -- from our healthcare to our national security.
When journalists challenged this latest move, Sean Spicer just replied that the White House was doing what “we can to communicate our message” and that Administration has “tremendous respect for the First Amendment.”
But this ban smacks of contempt for the First Amendment as well as the American people -- not “respect.”
The camera and live audio ban is part of a disturbing pattern out of the Trump Administration to attack institutions that serve as a check on power. Whether it is the President’s Tweet that the media is the “enemy of the American People” or rhetorical broadsides against the federal judiciary, Americans are increasingly aware of the hostility that the Trump Administration has shown to those whose job it is to safeguard and uncover the truth.
But we’re not an authoritarian state -- we must stand up for a free and independent press that holds power accountable. Tell the White House to drop its ban on cameras and live audio from press briefings.