View from the back: Sidelined White House reporters call out peer for ending press briefing as press room tensions unravel
Staff Report BACKGROUND: On March 8, 2022 a group of White House reporters had enough of their questions being ignored in press briefings. Their frustration came to a tipping point when a front row colleague signaled to the press secretary to call the session to an end. Unfamiliar with this longstanding tradition, more than half of the reporters. who did not get to ask their questions -- disapproved, wanting an explanation as to why a peer was given the time-keeping task. As their voices united to demand a more fair and equitable approach, Mona Austin a White House Correspondent for The Slice News, asked if the issue of guided press engagement was a concern for the White House Correspondent Association. President of the White House Correspondent's Association Steve Portnoy then intervened. For months correspondents in the back rows of the briefing room complained among themselves and sometimes to Press Secretary Jen Psaki as she was leaving the room that more questions sho...