First, it was the act of using the term "China virus" that was effectively banned by Joe Biden.
Now that appears to be only the beginning.
What does Biden's press shop have in store? Throwing out of the White House briefing room every member of the MAGA media – a virtual war on the likes of Sean Spicer, host of a Newsmax show, Eric Bolling, host of Sinclair's "America This Week," One America News, the Daily Caller, Breitbart and WND.
Bolling, who interviewed President Trump seven times and occasionally attended press briefing, is worried that he may lose his credential. He has submitted an application to the White House Correspondents' Association to try to prevent his banishment.
"I hope to hold this administration as accountable as the media held the Trump administration," Bolling said.
Who's the traffic cop? It may be press secretary Jen Psaki, who has a hard time handling routine questions from genuinely friendly reporters.
"White House officials promise a sea change from how the Trump White House interacted with the press," writes Politico. "Biden's team plans to lay out clear criteria for qualifying for a so-called 'hard pass' to access the grounds in consultation with the WHCA." (WHCA is code for White House Correspondents' Association – something you never heard from Sarah Sanders or Kayleigh McEnany.)
As for WND, one of the very first online news companies, it was a long hard fight to get a hard pass to cover the U.S. Senate. After an initial denial, it took 19 months, two appeals, a massive letter-writing campaign by loyal readers, calls from members of Congress and the threat of a lawsuit, before WND finally got its Senate press credentials. The victory came on 3-2 vote Jan. 29, 2003.
I doubt very much WND would be approved today for a hard pass to cover the White House – in a time of censorship, cancel culture and since the war declared on President Trump declared him to be persona non grata.
It looks like we'll have to wait for next Trump administration.
Of course, the White House doesn't get directly involved in banishing pro-Trump voices. It doesn't have to. It has the White House Correspondents' Association to do its dirty work. Back in the day we skated by on a 3-2 vote of the Senate Standing Committee of Correspondents, on the third try. We threatened to sue individuals who are part of a volunteer club of avid censors. I'm sure the situation is much more grave today – with the addition of Big Tech fascists.
At the White House, the new Biden staffers have imposed a new standard that may exclude more reporters than made the cut in the Trump years.
"We expect reporters covering the White House to operate in good faith and tell their audience the truth, and this White House will do the same," said T.J. Ducklo, the deputy press secretary. "We are moving forward with that mutual understanding. Organizations or individuals who traffic in conspiracy theories, propaganda and lies to spread disinformation will not be tolerated, and we'll work with the WHCA (What did I tell you?) to decide how to handle those instances moving forward."
Do you remember Trump throwing reporters out? With so many hostile reporters, his press conferences certainly tested his patience! Watch for Biden's patience, with even a handful of conservative reporters, to quickly wear out. He'll be challenging them to duels or calling them "lying dog-face pony soldiers."
How do they intend to deal with the "MAGA media" if they meet any?
Tim Miller, described as "a Trump critic and longtime GOP media operative," suggested that the Biden team find a few outlets and reporters in "MAGA media" and engage them on the White House's own terms.
"Some of these guys are access-mongers; others just aren't that savvy, and going into the lion's den and making a case has value," he said. "The downside to that is you are kind of legitimizing some of these outlets that have acted horribly and they obviously will go out of their way to smear Biden the rest of the time," Miller said.
Yeah, why bother to try to win them over, as Trump did.
Oh, they're kind of keen to engage Peter Doocy of Fox News because he's so polite, yet Psaki confused him with his father, Steve.
WND, for its part, has been around for 24 years. We expect to survive whatever is coming from the Biden administration, as bad it might be. We look forward to being here for the next act of a real president, Donald Trump – it will be true renaissance.
via wnd