"B-rate" reporters have turned daily White House press briefings into a "circus," and press secretary Sarah Sanders should not have to go out and do them every day, former press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday.
"She doesn't have to go out there and do a briefing if the president's engaging with the press on an almost daily basis," Spicer, who resigned as press secretary in 2017, told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
"I think the press briefing is to do so in lieu of that, so they're making the right call on this."
Daily press briefings also helped create a "bunch of YouTube stars" from "B-rate reporters," said Spicer, saying such people acted out during briefings in order to get ratings.
"They're supposed to ask tough, hard questions," Spicer said. "This has never been about the content of the question . . . they want to make themselves stars, they want to make viral videos."
Sanders has not held a press briefing since Dec. 18 in the White House briefing room, and President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday he has told her "not to bother" with press briefings, as the press covers her "so rudely & inaccurately," and besides, "the word gets out anyway."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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