Charles Dharapak / AP
Jim Acosta, CNN's Senior White House correspondent, slammed the Trump administration on Twitter Monday for hosting press briefings off-camera and without audio, as was the case with Sean Spicer's press briefing this afternoon.
"Make no mistake about what we are all witnessing. This is a WH that is stonewalling the news media. Hiding behind no camera/no audio gaggles. There is a suppression of information going on at this WH that would not be tolerated at a city council mtg or press conf with a state gov. Call me old fashioned but I think the White House of the United States of America should have the backbone to answer questions on camera."
Why it matters: The White House has been increasingly cutting down on the number of press briefings, and access to those briefings, and many reporters argue that the limitations undermine the purpose of the briefings altogether: being transparent in sharing information with the public.
Spicer's response to keeping Monday's briefing off-camera, with no audio: "I've said it since the beginning — the President spoke today, he was on camera. He'll make another comment today at the technology summit. And there are days that I'll decide that the President's voice should be the one that speaks, and iterate his priorities."