White House Correspondents Association VP Recommends Reporters Sometimes Yield To Trump's “Guerrilla Tactics” For Access

WHCA's Margaret Talev: The Press Corps Needs “To Have A Tough Skin” In Order To Maintain “Access” To Trump, His Aides, And The White House

From the January 18 edition of Bloomberg's With All Due Respect

Video file

JOHN HEILEMANN (CO-HOST): [W]hen Donald Trump had his first press conference in months and months, it was a melee that took place at Trump Tower, or here in New York last week. And not only was it a melee, something that would seem to me unimaginable could happen in like the East Room, although now it is maybe what thing is going to be like. It also included things like him shouting down reporters, not granting people questions, attacking Jim Acosta, accusing CNN of being fake news. The meetings I think are obviously important and I'm glad to hear there's some progress, but watching that, your reaction to it was what? 

MARGARET TALEV: Well for many of the reporters watching that, startled, because it's not the way you normally think of a president-elect or a president dealing with his press corps, particularly at a time that he's promising to unify the country and get off to a good start and all of that. But look I think as a press corps, we all need to have a tough skin and to differentiate between unusual or guerrilla tactics that we need to learn how to live with and things that cross a red line. And this is something that we're going to need to be mindful of and adjust to, but I think it's a matter of keeping the eyes on the prize, which is the ability to ask questions of incoming President Trump and his top staff on the record and get answers. And to have access to these buildings, into the briefing rooms, the venues, for these questions take place.

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Previously

In One Day, 17 Signs Of How Bad Press Treatment Will Be Under Trump

D.C. Press Took Collective Action To Protest Obama White House Restrictions -- Why Not Trump?

Donald Trump Wants An Army Of Jeff Gannon Shills In The White House Press Briefing Room

Donald Trump's Hotel Bans Press For The Inauguration, Raising First Amendment Concerns