Cross-posted in the Spicer thread.
John Kirby, a former Pentagon and State Department spokesman under Obama, said in an op-ed for CNN.com that regular on-camera briefings benefit the American government.
“In the search for better ways to articulate the President’s agenda, the answer shouldn’t be no or even fewer briefings. It should be better briefings,” he wrote.
New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen said he disagreed with Kirby’s assertion that the administration is hurting itself by avoiding questions from reporters.
“That’s true only if you assume that Trump is trying to win the argument, persuade the doubters, or gain the approval of a greater percentage of the public,” Rosen told CNN. “What if he’s not? In campaigns you can quit trying to reach the undecided and just focus on turning out the base. Trump seems to have taken this approach to governing… It’s time we saw the decay in communications as a feature of the Trump presidency, not a bug.”