March 2017

[Commentary] While no one is predicting car bombings or poisonings of American journalists, it’s not much of a stretch to see similarities between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attitude. Both leaders want a compliant press and are willing to take action toward getting it — some, of course, more extreme than others.

Russians, overwhelmingly, get their news from TV. “Imagine you have two dozen TV channels and it is all Fox News,” said former deputy energy minister Vladi­mir Milov, now a Putin critic. The tight control is effective: Putin has approval ratings of over 80 percent — ratings that Trump would, metaphorically speaking, kill for. Russia may not be the worst place in the world for journalists, but it is very bad nonetheless. Trump’s admiration for Putin becomes even more troubling when paired with his own moves to stamp out independent journalism through disparagement, denial of access, favoritism and blacklisting. “For Putin, there has been no greater obsession in controlling the culture than in controlling the media,” said Joel Simon, author and executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. For America under Trump, that’s a cautionary tale.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer defended the administration’s unconventional briefing methods at an off-camera gaggle with reporters who expressed frustration over a lack of access to the president. Rather than hold a traditional televised Q&A with reporters, Spicer briefed the media off-camera at the White House. That angered some in the press, who also expressed frustration that there had been no sightings of the president on a day when he had signed a highly anticipated executive order.

“Will we be hearing from the president this week since we didn’t today?” one reporter asked. “I’m sure at some point we’ll do something ... a photo spray,” Spicer responded. “We have a pretty good track record of making the president available to folks.” “It’s unusual,” the reporter shot back. “Everything is closed. Normally they have a photo spray or something,” American Urban Radio Networks reporter April Ryan said. “Don’t give me this ‘normally we do,’” Spicer shot back. “I made it very clear at the beginning of this April that we’d have some things on camera, some things off. Last week, the president traveled two days, he had the [speech before the] joint session [of Congress]. We briefed every day.” "It’s not about us; it’s about the American public seeing their president,” Ryan responded.