Members of the press and others are criticizing the Trump administration, saying that White House press briefings need to return to being frequent and televised, according to The Hill.
Press secretary Sean Spicer and deputy secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders have only held six televised briefings since May 29, while in the early days of the administration, briefings were held at a pace of four or five a week, according to The Hill.
Answers from Spicer are now shorter, and in off-camera briefings, reporters are frequently prohibited from recording audio as the administration seeks to tailor its message toward policy, instead of the Russia investigation, The Hill reports.
"In a perfect world, the Trump White House would provide daily press briefing — a daily on-camera, on-the-record press briefing," said Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign aide, The Hill reports.
"We need live press conferences, they have to be documented," Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum said Thursday, according to The Hill.
"Your government doesn't want you to see and hear what they're doing," Jim Acosta, CNN senior White House correspondent said Thursday.
On Monday, Acosta said banning recording equipment from the briefings is because "they want their evasive answers not saved for posterity."
"The fewer on-camera briefings approach may be driven largely out of necessity in the short-term. The president lacks confidence in his communications team and he wants to see changes. Until those changes happen, I think it has been made clear this is his preferred approach," said Scott McClellan, who was press secretary for President George W. Bush.
Sean Spicer drawing headlines himself could be an issue, McClellan told The Hill.
"I think the fact is that Spicer has become the story and a point of ridicule too often, which seems to be particularly upsetting to President Trump."
Spicer, during a Wednesday interview with Laura Ingraham, said some reporters are seeking publicity for themselves.
"There's a lot of them that want to become YouTube stars and ask some snarky question that's been asked eight times… There is a bit of snarkiness now with the press, because, again, I think a lot of them are more focused about getting their clip on the air than they are of actually taking the time to understand an issue," Spicer said.
The White House has said they remain willing to respond to reporter emails or in background briefings with officials, The Hill reported.
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