This is an adapted excerpt from the Feb. 3 episode of “Inside with Jen Psaki.”
When I was the spokesperson for the State Department, there was a reporter named Matt Lee from The Associated Press. Lee would grill me every single day. In fact, he was so tough on me that the state-run media in Russia turned him into a bit of a folk hero.
To be clear, he wasn’t pushing Russian talking points, not at all. The Russians just liked watching this American reporter be tough and combative. At some point, I actually asked Lee about that and his response, even years later, has stuck with me.
It was a reminder that even when reporters kept pushing and kept questioning, that was actually a sign of the relationship working.
He told me, whether the policy is good or not, whether it’s smart or not, the U.S. government has multiple briefings a day and gives journalists opportunities to ask hard questions. He said the Russians may applaud him for being tough on me, but they have none of that.
That’s something I thought a lot about when I was at the White House. It was a reminder that even when things were combative, even when reporters kept pushing and kept questioning, that was actually a sign of the relationship working.
When I later became White House press secretary, there were people who wondered why we allowed Fox News to remain in the briefing room and why I called on them every day. Well, one of the reasons is that in a functioning democracy, it’s important to talk to all different kinds of media. Engagement is the point. The willingness to disagree and to push back is the point.
With that in mind, I just want to draw your attention to something you might have missed in what has been an absolute avalanche of news.
On Friday, the Pentagon effectively removed several major news organizations from their office spaces in favor of some friendlier outlets.
This should not only be seen as a punishment of news organizations who ask hard questions, this should be seen as a punishment of the American people.
The Pentagon spokesperson said that as part of the agency’s new “annual media rotation program,” the very conservative New York Post would replace The New York Times. The very conservative cable channel One America News would be swapped in for NBC News. The very conservative Breitbart News would serve as a radio outlet instead of NPR. And HuffPost, a progressive outlet that, interestingly, doesn’t have a Pentagon correspondent, would switch in for Politico.
That Pentagon spokesperson said the goal of the changes is to “broaden access to the limited space of the Correspondents’ Corridor to outlets that have not previously enjoyed the privilege.” But I think it’s pretty clear what’s happening here.
Just remember, this should not only be seen as a punishment of news organizations who ask hard questions, this should be seen as a punishment of the American people. The hard questions and the combativeness from these reporters are a service to you.
So they might not like it, they might do things to try and stop it, but that’s even more of a reason to keep going and to keep pushing. So that’s what we’re going to do.
Allison Detzel contributed.
