Press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday refused to say how White House staffers select reporters allowed into recent presidential events.
In recent months, the White House press office has cherry-picked reporters allowed into Biden events in the nearly 3,000-square foot East Room and even on the lawn by citing dubious "Spacing constraints" - despite no such constraints in the much-smaller briefing room, where 49 seated reporters and many standing ones have gathered every day since COVID-19 limits ended in June.
The White House Correspondents' Association opposes the practice of pre-screening for East Room events - which under past presidents generally were open to all reporters - and nobody has gotten a firm answer from press handlers on how selections are made.
"So I'm hoping you can demystify for us how White House staff are selecting which journalists get into these events - is it first come, first serve or something? And also, how long will this pre-screening remain in place?".
White House staff have given inconsistent explanations to reporters about the process behind choosing who get to attend the forums, where Biden sometimes takes questions.
Senior White House journalists don't know how the process works.
It's widely believed that White House staff make subjective decisions on reporters allowed into Biden events to shape the variety of questions that get asked - a practice that could open legal issues for the White House due to a Trump-era court ruling against arbitrary decision-making processes for granting press badges.
https://nypost.com/2021/10/22/psaki-wont-say-how-white-house-picks-reporters-for-biden-events/
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