Media top headlines May 11
Martha MacCallum pressing a teachers union president over critical race theory and more round out today's top media headlines
White House reporters are reportedly giving the Biden administration substantial control of its messaging, at least when it comes to publishing quotes from government officials.
Politico's "West Wing Playbook" alleged that White House journalists are "fuming" over what has been described as "rules" when it comes to running quotes from the new administration.
"If you’ve read a quote from an administration official in a newspaper or a wire story recently, there’s a good chance that the White House communications team had an opportunity to edit it first," Politico wrote on Monday. "That’s because the Biden White House frequently demands that interviews with administration officials be conducted on grounds known colloquially as 'background with quote approval,' according to five reporters who cover the White House for outlets other than Politico."
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Politico explained, "In practice, that means the information from an interview can be used in the story, but in order for the person’s name to be attached to a quote, the reporter must transcribe the quotes they want and then send them to the communications team to approve, veto or edit them."
The "West Wing Playbook" admitted that they too have "participated in such arrangements."
"The practice allows the White House an extra measure of control as it tries to craft press coverage," Politico wrote. "At its best, quote approval allows sources to speak more candidly about their work. At its worst, it gives public officials a way to obfuscate or screen their own admissions and words."
However, Politico suggests that such practices aren't new as "many reporters" say it's reminiscent of the tightly controlled Obama White House" and that the Trump White House "used it, too" but "did so less frequently."
The playbook revealed that Biden's team used such practices during the 2020 presidential campaign.
One unnamed reporter complained, "The rule treats them like coddled Capitol Hill pages and that’s not who they are or the protections they deserve."
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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told Politico, "We would welcome any outlet banning the use of anonymous background quotes that attack people personally or speak to internal processes from people who don’t even work in the Administration," adding, "At the same time, we make policy experts available in a range of formats to ensure context and substantive detail is available for stories. If outlets are not comfortable with that attribution for those officials they of course don’t need to utilize those voices."
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy told Fox News Digital that he himself had not experienced such practices since he doesn't "really ask [the Biden administration] for quotes like that" and that he had not heard about the so-called "rules" before reading Politico's report.
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