{"id":1182567,"date":"2022-01-03T08:04:33","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T13:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1182567"},"modified":"2022-01-03T08:04:34","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T13:04:34","slug":"white-house-correspondents-association-slashes-capacity-for-press-briefings-as-reporters-cite-covid-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-correspondents-association-slashes-capacity-for-press-briefings-as-reporters-cite-covid-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"White House Correspondents Association Slashes Capacity For Press Briefings As Reporters Cite COVID Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhite-house-correspondents-association-slashes-capacity-for-press-briefings-as-reporters-cite-covid-concerns%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1182567&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Citing a rise in COVID-19 cases, the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) announced that it would resume tight capacity restrictions that were in place during the summer \u2014 even though reporters are already subject to a vaccine mandate.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/587951-whca-temporarily-limits-briefing-room-capacity-amid-covid-19-surge\">The Hill<\/a> reported:<\/p>\n<p>The board of the WHCA voted unanimously to return to the reduced seating arrangement that was in place from last summer until earlier this year, with 14 seats out of the 49 in the room being used, association president Steve Portnoy announced in an email to the organization\u2019s members\u2026 The WHCA intends to revisit the seating arrangement later in the month, depending on case rates\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The WHCA has for weeks been urging reporters working out of the White House to take a rapid COVID-19 test if possible before coming to the building, and to wear a high-quality mask like an N95.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven the virulence of the spread, medical experts have once again advised that it would be prudent to substantially reduce the number of people working in the cramped, poorly ventilated workspace that we share,\u201d Portnoy wrote. \u201cA primary objective is ensuring we are able to hold the administration accountable to the public, while preventing an outbreak that might limit our ability to cover the president in close quarters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beginning in August 2021, all reporters visiting the White House grounds were <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/566754-white-house-to-require-visitors-including-journalists-to-confirm\">required<\/a> to receive COVID-19 vaccines, submit to testing at their own expense, or procure a negative test of their own. As pointed out by Spectator editor Amber Athey, 99% of the White House press corps is vaccinated.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, the new restrictions will limit access to the press briefings for reporters outside of the mainstream media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the WHCA first limited briefing attendance during the pandemic, there was at least one rotating seat available to accommodate all WHCA members,\u201d Athey <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/amber_athey\/status\/1477857409066545156\">explained<\/a> on Twitter. \u201cNow the briefing room appears to be limited to only outlets with a previously assigned seat.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSmaller &amp; independent outlets would normally stand in the briefing room aisles bc they don\u2019t get an assigned seat from the WHCA. They cannot do that now because of the \u2018omicron surge,\u2019\u201d she claimed. \u201cPreviously, the WHCA sought to accommodate these members during the pandemic by giving them a seat to take turns in. That seat does not exist this time around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the capacity restrictions occur weeks after a report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/white-house-working-behind-scenes-with-media-to-get-positive-coverage-report\">showed<\/a> that the White House is trying to minimize negative press coverage, with officials allegedly \u201cbegging\u201d reporters to deliver \u201cfavorable\u201d news about the administration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m told the conversations have been productive, with anchors and reporters and producers getting to talk with the officials,\u201d CNN reporter Oliver Darcy wrote in a recent newsletter.<\/p>\n<p>Days after she assumed her position, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki allegedly tried to solicit questions from journalists ahead of her daily briefings. The Daily Beast <a href=\"https:\/\/money.yahoo.com\/white-house-reporters-biden-team-020024623.html\">published<\/a> a story headlined \u201cWhite House Reporters: Biden Team Wanted Our Questions in Advance\u201d in February of last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccording to three sources with knowledge of the matter, as well as written communications reviewed by The Daily Beast, the new president\u2019s communications staff have already on occasion probed reporters to see what questions they plan on asking new White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki when called upon during briefings,\u201d the article said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile it\u2019s a relief to see briefings return, particularly with a commitment to factual information, the press can\u2019t really do its job in the briefing room if the White House is picking and choosing the questions they want,\u201d one White House correspondent said. \u201cThat\u2019s not really a free press at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt pissed off enough reporters for people to flag it for the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association for them to deal with it,\u201d another source said.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Wire is fighting Joe Biden\u2019s vaccine mandate in federal court. Join us in this fight by signing our <a href=\"https:\/\/lp.dailywire.com\/osha-petition\/\">petition<\/a> to OSHA, telling them that you will not comply with this mandate.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">member<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Citing a rise in COVID-19 cases, the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) announced that it would resume tight capacity restrictions that were in place during the summer \u2014 even though reporters are already subject to a vaccine mandate. The Hill reported: The board of the WHCA voted unanimously to return to the reduced seating arrangement &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1182567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1182567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1182567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1182567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1182567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}