Rising Tension between the President and the Press

Donald Trump is no stranger to the media, which is evident from the fact that it’s nearly impossible to read the news today without mention of him. However, recent events this week have shown increasing animosity between journalists and the Trump administration.

This past Friday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer barred several news outlets from attending his daily press briefing after a series of tweets from President Trump about media outlets and their harboring of “fake news.”

Not only were the Times and CNN barred from the briefing, but other outlets such as BuzzFeed, Politico, the BBC and The Huffington Post were not allowed to attend according to the New York Times article by Julie Hirschfeld Davis and media correspondent Michael M. Grynbaum.

Just one day after, CNN’s Dylan Byers reported that President Trump took to twitter Saturday to announce he will not attend the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, an annual tradition that raises money for journalism scholarships.

This announcement comes after “increasingly hostile relations between the media and the White House,” according to Byers.

Trump continues to take to social media today with another tweet about the harboring of fake news in regards to Trump’s alleged relations with Russia.

Some have expressed concern over Trump’s actions against the media, including NY Times executive editor Dean Banquet, who spoke out against the Times’ exclusion from Friday’s press briefing.

“We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial nation interest,” said Banquet.