Media top headlines September 22
In media news today, reporters slam the White House for shouting down questions from the press pool, MSNBC's Joy Reid calls the focus on the Gabby Petito case 'missing White woman syndrome,' and Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar argues with CNN anchor over border patrol agents on horseback
An Australian reporter joined a growing group of press Tuesday sharing their frustration over how President Joe Biden's aides shut down questions.
After a press conference between Biden and Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, France24’s Washington correspondent Kethevane Gorjestani said that she "was asked by a very startled Australian reporter whether WH wranglers were always so strict about ushering the pool out without questions," according to reports.
Also, while United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson took several questions at their discussion in the Oval Office on Tuesday, when the press tried to ask Biden questions, White House aides ushered them out.
"As we were leaving, I asked the president for his reaction to the situation on the southern border," CBS reporter Ed O’Keefe said of the scene. "Due to shouting by White House aides, the noise of everyone leaving, and the president wearing his mask, we could not make out his answer."
BIDEN REFUSES TO CALL ON US REPORTERS WHILE UK'S BORIS JOHNSON HOLDS COURT WITH BRITS
Washington Post reporter Seung Min Kim described the scene as "not good," while Wall Street Journal reporter Andrew Restuccia called it "chaotic."
Michele Perez Exner, Communications Director for House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, mused about the Australians' surprise, likely given Australia's notoriously stringent coronavirus restrictions.
Former Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage also told "Fox & Friends First" that Tuesday's scene was a "bizarre spectacle."
"What a bizarre spectacle, to see two important world leaders muzzled behind the thickest face masks that could possibly ever been made," Farage said. "So much so it was actually quite difficult to hear anything anyone was saying. But that was the first thing that was utterly bizarre."
He added that Johnson was "completely stunned" that his American counterpart did not answer questions.
"And I think Boris Johnson and of course, you know, our culture as yours has always been, is that leaders are accountable to the press, from all sides and all opinions, who could ask questions. And I think Boris was completely stunned that the new culture in America, who was supposed to be the leaders of the free world, is that the president doesn't take questions," he said.
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Biden has been accused of being handled by his team throughout his presidency. In multiple press conferences, the president has called on reporters from lists pre-apprroved by his team or said he's "not supposed" to take any questions. In many other instances, he hasn't taken questions at all, even in the midst of the deadly and chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
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