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Topline
Incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday offered a glimpse of how President-elect Joe Biden’s press operation will differ from President Trump’s, she told NPR. Morning edition that the news will come much more from official press conferences than from unauthorized leaks and indicating that the dissemination of information will be more carefully controlled.
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 2: Jennifer Psaki, spokesperson for the US Department of State, speaks with journalists … [+]
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Key facts
In a departure from the outgoing administration’s outright hostility toward the media, Psaki told host Steve Inskeep that reporters play an “essential role,” but added that “people don’t trust the information they get from the majority. of the sources “.
Psaki vowed to “go back to … policy briefings and policy experts” to explain “what a COVID package would look like or what we’re going to do about immigration,” after Biden reportedly pledged to bring back the daily White House press conferences.
The Trump White House has been wary of press conferences, even going more than a year without one between 2019 and 2020, though so has Biden’s campaign, which received criticism from critics for rarely making Biden stand. available for press inquiries.
But Psaki indicated that the flow of information will largely begin and end with the briefings, predicting a continuation of Biden’s team’s aversion to the leaks and an end to the “Game of Thrones-style personnel shots” that marked. the Trump White House.
When asked about access by right-wing media such as Fox News, Newsmax and OANN, Psaki compared them to Russian and Chinese state media and said that he does not believe his job is to “give them a bigger platform”, although He added: “I don’t think it’s my job to keep people out either.”
Psaki sidestepped a question about whether the incoming administration will continue the Obama administration’s practice of prosecuting leakers and investigating journalists, and referred to an as-yet unidentified attorney general candidate who, he said, “will not have political influence from White House”.
Crucial appointment
“My resting place is to be stable and open and share information. But I’m not an easy prey either, ”said Psaki, an Obama administration alumnus, when asked about the Obama White House that occasionally iced Fox News. “We are not going to allow the meeting room to be a platform for propaganda, and we will also close it when necessary.”
Large number
417. That is the number of days the administration spent between March 2019 and May 2020 without holding a press conference. Current press secretary Kayleigh McEnany restarted the practice after her predecessor, Stephanie Grisham, spent 10 months in office without having a single one. McEnany has continued to hold informational meetings, albeit less and less frequently.
Tangent
Biden has made diversity a clear focus of his appointments and is on track to nominate a record number of women and people of color to his cabinet. His communications team is no exception to that effort: Last month, Biden’s transition announced a senior White House communications staff made up exclusively of women.
