The decision to bar cameras from last Friday’s White House press briefing seems silly and capricious. When asked about it by the press corps, Press Secretary Sean Spicer was hard-pressed to explain the rationale behind it.
But if the Trump administration acted stupidly, CNN went them one better. It sent along a courtroom sketch artist to capture key moments in the briefing.
Supreme Court sketch artist Bill Hennessy was the artist present, according to CNN’s Brian Stelter. The news organization wanted to send an artist to sketch the scene so that the public could get a sense of what the room looked like during the briefing, due to the fact that there has been no live audio or video allowed at many recent briefings.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
CNN sent Bill Hennessy, the network's regular Supreme Court sketch artist, to the White House briefing today. https://t.co/c0yvofNinq pic.twitter.com/issRqyl9i8
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 23, 2017
Spicer and the Trump administration have recently been facing a barrage of criticism, especially from CNN. White House correspondent Jim Acosta recently got agitated on air, saying that he feels as though the White House is “stonewalling” him because they will reportedly not answer any of his questions.
“The White House press secretary has gotten to a point where he is kind of useless,” Acosta said.
CNN anchors compared the White House briefings to Supreme Court hearings that are on-the-record events in which cameras are not allowed.
While one can understand and perhaps even sympathize with Acosta’s frustration, what makes CNN think that viewers will be content to view crude sketches of Spicer and other familiar figures while listening to an audio of the Q & A?
This report, by Henry Rodgers, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.