Deplorable President Donald Trump’s first solo press
conference at the White House on Thursday. They are complaining, almost in
unison, that it was “unhinged” — and, worse, that Trump’s combative style, and
practice of calling on non-traditional news outlets, threatens
the First Amendment.
CNN short memories — or selective memories. Because when
President Barack Obama took direct aim at the media and press freedom, few
complained. And when they did, the media soon went back to giving him fawning
coverage.
Here
are 11 moments Obama abused the press:
1. Campaign plane “hijacking” journalists. In 2008, the Obama campaign flew 25 members of the media
to Chicago — without telling them then-Sen. Obama was not, in fact, on board.
CNN reported: “[T]he press was
essentially held hostage with no candidate and no choice but to fly to Chicago
on a chartered plane.”
2. Closing White House events to all but the official
photographer. Obama barred the
media from events — including, ironically, an award ceremony where he was
recognized for “transparency” — and often restricted photographers’ access, only releasing images taken by the official White
House photographer.
3. Trying to shut out Fox News. The Obama administration targeted Fox News for isolation
and marginalization, arguing that it was not a legitimate news organization
but “the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.” That
served as a warning to other potentially critical outlets.
4. Stonewalling FOIA requests. The Obama administration “set a record” for failing to provide information requested by
the press and the public under the Freedom of Information Act. The low point
was Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, where tens of thousands of emails were
hidden on a private server and deleted.
5. Prosecuting journalists and their sources. The Obama administration pursued Fox News reporter James Rosen’s private emails —
then misled Congress about it. CNN’s Jake Tapper — to his credit — pointed out that
Obama had used the Espionage Act against leakers more than all of his
predecessors combined.
6. Wiretapping the Associated Press. After the Obama administration’s snooping on the
AP was exposed in 2013, a senior NBC correspondent excused President
Obama on the grounds that he would not have been nasty enough to alienate
“one of the president’s most important constituencies, the press.”
7. Refusing to hold press conferences. For long stretches of his presidency, Obama refused to hold
press conferences at all, going 10 months without a formal press conference in a critical
stretch from 2009 to 2010. He heeled the lowest average annual number of press conferences of any
president since Ronald Reagan.
8. Filibustering at press conferences. When Obama did, finally, hold press conference, he often
limited the number of questions by delivering long, rambling, often
condescending answers. He “wastes reporters’ time by refraining from answering
questions with any candor,” Jack Shafer complained in Politico in 2016.
9. Attacking tough questions. When a Major Garrett of CBS actually asked a tough
question — about why the administration seemed not to be trying
hard to free Americans held by Iran, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian —
Obama scolded him: “Major, that’s nonsense, and you should know better.”
10. Appearing on fringe outlets. While media elites gripe about conservative
journalists being given a chance, Obama often restricted his appearances to
fringe media: Inside Edition; Funny or Die’s Between Two Ferns (which
was then nominated for an Emmy); YouTube stars; and a radio show called “Pimp with a Limp.”
11. Iran deal “echo chamber.” The Obama administration created “fake news” to support the
Iran deal, setting up what it later boasted was an “echo chamber”
of “experts” who would comment in the media to support the White House
narrative on the negotiations. Meanwhile, key details were hidden from the
public.
Through it all, President Obama regarded himself as a champion of press freedom, having
run the “most transparent administration ever.”
Many
mainstream media journalists ignored the Obama administration’s abuses. A
few spoke out against them. But most of them continued to paint him
in glowing terms, regardless.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He
was named one of the “most influential”
people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is
available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
