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After four years of extreme tension between the media and Donald Trump’s White House, incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki promises a much more respectful and informative relationship under Joe Biden’s administration.
“I think more than at any time in history, and I don’t want to be too dramatic … part of the White House press secretary’s job is to rebuild trust with the American people,” Psaki told National Public Radio on a published interview. Thursday.
“My goal every day will of course be to be honest and transparent and to help open the curtains not just for the media and reporters, of course those are the people in the room, but for the American people,” he said. said.
Without naming his four predecessors who served Trump, Psaki’s comments can be interpreted as criticism of them, all of whom were accused of circumventing transparency and selling falsehoods to journalists.
Trump’s presidency began four years ago with his then press secretary, Sean Spicer, falsely arguing that Trump had “the largest audience that has ever witnessed an inauguration, period, both in person and in the entire world.” And Trump’s presidency is ending with his current press secretary, Kaleigh McEnany, pushing conspiracy theories and unproven claims of voter fraud from the White House meeting room.
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer began his term by falsely describing the size of Trump’s inauguration crowd. [File: Andrew Harnik/AP Photo]
Another key difference from the Trump administration’s press relations, Psaki noted, will be a significant reduction in anonymous leaks from inside the White House. For the past four years, journalists have reveled in leaks from sources close to Trump, many of whom spoke to journalists to settle internal political scores or, in some cases, to shed light on what was perceived as dangerous. breaking of rules.
“I have told this to some journalists, anyone who has covered only the Trump administration and who is looking for a continuation of the ‘Game of Thrones’ style staff shooting will be deeply disappointed,” said Psaki. “Our goal is for there to be a return to the policy processes and the policy briefs and the policy experts that will be out there explaining what a COVID package would look like or what we are going to do about immigration.”
While many reporters are welcoming Psaki and the promise of a return to the less combative pre-Trump relationship between the White House and the press, others are raising red flags. Some point out that Biden, as well as the previous Obama-Biden administration, do not have the best record on transparency or even their treatment of the press.
“Biden showed in the election campaign that he disliked awkward and awkward questions like ‘packing up in court,’ and he criticized journalists rather than answering succinctly,” wrote Jack Shafer, Politico’s senior media writer. , earlier this month. “He snapped at a journalist who asked him about his cognitive abilities. And he snapped at a reporter who asked him about the New York Post cover story about his son Hunter. Not very open. Not very transparent. “
While journalists expect less tension with the Biden White House, there are concerns that the president-elect and his team are not overly open or transparent. [File: Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo]
Harold Holzer, a former congressional press secretary and author of The Presidents and the Press, told The Associated Press news agency earlier this month that many White House journalists “were appalled at the treatment they received in the administration. Obama ”.
“They were told to check the White House website for answers to their questions, Obama never showed up … unless it was to go give a cupcake on someone’s birthday, he did not respond to FOIA requests “Holzer said.
On top of that, many Washington reporters recall the aggressive stance the Obama administration took in dealing with leaks of sensitive information.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation noted that the Obama administration jailed a record number of government journalist sources.
The Obama Justice Department prosecuted more people under the Espionage Act of 1917 for leaking confidential information to the public than all previous administrations combined, the AP reported.
As part of its investigations into leaks, the Justice Department under Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder reviewed confidential communications between government sources and journalists.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder aggressively pursued the Obama administration leaks and his Justice Department investigated several journalists [File: Bill Haber/AP Photo]
It was revealed that during its investigations, the Justice Department obtained the phone records of a Fox News reporter, as well as several AP reporters. In the case of Fox reporter James Rosen, the Justice Department also obtained a warrant to search his personal emails, tracked his movements in and out of the State Department, on which he was reporting, and ultimately named him as a possible criminal. ”. co-conspirator ”.
NPR asked Psaki directly if the Biden administration would revert to the days of aggressive handling of the leaks, but she did not respond directly.
“Obviously, there are different circumstances, as you well know, that arose during the Obama administration,” Psaki said. “And several of them were overseen by the Justice Department at the time. President-elect Biden hasn’t even selected an attorney general yet. “
“But one of his priorities is to return that department to an independent department, one that does not have political influence from the White House, which will be a big change from our current situation.”
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