White House bars several news outlets from press briefing

WASHINGTON – Several major US news organizations were barred from a White House press briefing on Friday by the Trump administration.

Reporters from CNN, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Politico were refused access to the briefing. Two of the barred outlets, CNN and the Times, have been a particular focus of Trump's ire.

The White House canceled Friday's on-camera briefing with press secretary Sean Spicer, and replaced it with an off-camera, invitation-only gaggle in Spicer's office. A gaggle is a more informal gathering than a press conference, in which reporters are allowed to ask questions on the record but not to make video recordings.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the White House had never planned to do a full press briefing Friday. "There is a limited amount of room in Sean's office and we wanted to do an informal gaggle," Sanders said. "No precedent here. The pool was included so that everyone could get info."

The White House action came hours after President Donald Trump railed against the media in a speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

"I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It's fake, phony, fake," Trump said. "A few days ago, I called the fake news 'the enemy of the people,' and they are. They are the enemy of the people. Because they have no sources. They just make them up when there are none."

Trump vowed the White House would do something about the coverage.

Only reporters from selected organizations, which included Breitbart News, the One America News Network and The Washington Times – all extremely conservative news organizations – were allowed to attend the briefing on Friday. Breitbart's founder, Steve Bannon, is Trump's chief strategist. The television networks NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox News attended.

The Associated Press and Time magazine were also invited but declined to participate in solidarity with news organizations that were denied entry.

Representatives of the barred news organizations made clear that they believed the White House's actions were punitive.

"Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like," CNN said in a statement.

"Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties," said Dean Baquet, executive editor of the Times. "We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest."

The White House Correspondents Association said it was "protesting strongly" against the move.

CNN, AP, REUTERS