white house ices out cnn - antarctica starts...

WHITE HOUSE

White House ices out CNNTrump administration refuses to putofficials on air on the network thepresident called 'fake news.'

By HADAS GOLD | 01/31/17 06:16 PM EST

White House ices out CNN - POLITICO http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-cnn...

1 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

President Donald Trump refused to take a questionfrom CNN correspondent Jim Acosta at a contentiousJan. 11 press conference in New York. | Getty

The White House has refused to send itsspokespeople or surrogates onto CNN shows,effectively freezing out the network fromon-air administration voices.

“We’re sending surrogates to places where wethink it makes sense to promote our agenda,”said a White House official, acknowledging


2 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

that CNN is not such a place, but adding thatthe ban is not permanent.

A CNN reporter, speaking on background, wasmore blunt: The White House is trying topunish the network and force down itsratings.

“They’re trying to cull CNN from the herd,”the reporter said.

Administration officials are still answeringquestions from CNN reporters. Butadministration officials including WhiteHouse press secretary Sean Spicer and seniorcounselor Kellyanne Conway haven't appearedon the network's programming in recentweeks.

(Update: On Wednesday, the day after this articlewas published, the White House made Dr.


3 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

Sebastian Gorka, a Deputy Assistant to thePresident for national security available for aninterview.)

Spicer, speaking at an event at The GeorgeWashington University on Monday, deniedthat CNN is being frozen out, pointing outthat he’s answered CNN’s questions in theregular daily briefings.

But, he added "I'm not going to sit around andengage with people who have no desire toactually get something right."

Spicer takes issue with 'ban'label used by TrumpBy LOUIS NELSON

The last time an administration officialappeared on CNN’s Sunday public affairs show


4 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

“State of the Union” was Jan. 8 when Conwaywas interviewed. She also appeared on CNNthe following Wednesday with AndersonCooper, the day of then President-electTrump's news conference at which he deridedCNN for airing a report that intelligenceofficials had briefed both Trump andthen-President Barack Obama that theRussians might have negative informationabout Trump. At the news conference, thepresident-elect refused to take a questionfrom CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, whoshouted out to Trump to answer his questionsince Trump was attacking his newsorganization.

After his inauguration, Trump has continuedblasting CNN as “fake news."

Since then, Conway, Spicer, chief of staff


5 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

Reince Priebus and even Vice President MikePence have made the rounds on the majorSunday shows with the notable exception ofCNN’s “State of the Union."

“State of the Union” anchor Jake Tapper saidon his show and via Twitter that the WhiteHouse has declined his invitations to appear.

"We invited the Trump White House to offerus a guest to provide clarity and anexplanation of what the president just did,especially given so much confusion, evenwithin its own government by those who aresupposed to carry out this order,” Tapper saidon Sunday as he introduced a segment aboutthe Executive Order banning visitors fromsome countries and putting a hold on theUnited States’ refugee policy. "The TrumpWhite House declined our invitation.”


6 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

WHITE HOUSE

How Obama will take on TrumpBy EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE

Tapper had made a similar announcement theprevious Sunday.

Last week, New York magazine reported thatTrump’s feud with CNN has roots in hisrelationship with CNN President Jeff Zucker, aformer NBC president who brought Trump'stelevision show “The Apprentice” to thenetwork. Trump, the magazine reported, hastold White House staffers that he feelspersonally betrayed by Zucker and that Zuckershould tilt CNN programming more favorablytoward him because of their long relationship.

In an interview with New York magazine,Zucker said he’s not worried about getting


7 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

access to Trump.

“I think the era of access journalism as we’veknown it is over,” Zucker said. “I think ourcredibility is higher than ever, and ourviewership is higher than ever, and ourreporting is as strong as ever.”

“One of the things I think this administrationhasn’t figured out yet is that there’s only onetelevision network that is seen in Beijing,Moscow, Seoul, Tokyo, Pyongyang, Baghdad,Tehran, and Damascus — and that’s CNN,” henoted.

Part of the effort to ice out CNN may berelated to ratings.

WHITE HOUSE

Trump’s Supreme Court pick getspersonal


8 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

By SHANE GOLDMACHER and ELIANAJOHNSON

CNN “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelterwrote in one of his recent newsletters that anaide in “Trumpworld” told him that his ratingswould likely be hurt "because no Trumpadministration officials had agreed to beinterviewed.” Stelter said in that newsletterthat his ratings were in fact his highest sincelast November's election coverage at 1.3million viewers.

It’s hard to tell whether “State of the Union”ratings have been affected by the lack ofTrump officials, considering it's less than twoweeks since theinauguration. While farbehind the broadcast shows and “Fox &Friends” on cable news, the past two weeks of“State of the Union” have seen higher ratings


9 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

than on Jan. 8, the most recent time a Trumpofficial appeared. They've also won the demo(the key age group advertisers use) over thepast two weeks, and last Sunday the show had1.25 million viewers during the 9 a.m.broadcast, and 1.42 million viewers in thenoon rebroadcast.

It's not unusual for an administration totangle with certain outlets. The Obamaadministration, at times, had a rockyrelationship with Fox News and limited itsofficials from appearing on its programs.Former Obama White HouseCommunications Director Anita Dunn toldThe New York Times in 2009 that they weregoing to treat Fox "the way we would treat anopponent.”

“As they are undertaking a war against Barack


10 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

Obama and the White House, we don’t need topretend that this is the way that legitimatenews organizations behave," she said at thetime.

A former official in the Obama administrationacknowledged that they had their "battleswith Fox," and that there may have been sometimes where "we sent people on othernetworks and not on Fox." But as a generalrule, the official said, officials would go on thenetwork.

"I think, in my hazy recollection is it would beunusual to do all [the networks] except one.What drives that is sometimes amount of timeavailable to the person doing them," theofficial said. "If they are stiffing CNNintentionally, that is different than whatnormally happens."


11 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

A spokesperson for Fox News did notimmediately respond to a request forcomment.

A CNN spokeswoman declined to comment.

Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.

This article has been updated to clarify CNN'sreport on the Russian dossier and to add contexton the Obama White House relationship with FoxNews. It was also updated to note that the WhiteHouse made a representative available to CNN onWednesday, the day after this article waspublished.


12 of 12 02/05/2017 12:51 PM

white house ices out cnn - antarctica starts...

Documents