White House blocks CNN, NYT, Politico and others from press briefing
| AFP Photo


Several major media outlets were blocked by the White House from attending spokesman Sean Spicer's media briefing on Friday.

The New York Times, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, Buzzfeed, Politico, BBC, the Daily News and several foreign news organizations were not permitted to cover the briefing.Several conservative media outlets, including Breitbart, the Washington Times, One America News Network and a number of mainstream news organizations such as ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Reuters, and Bloomberg were allowed into Spicer's office.

CNN released a statement following the block and said, "This is an unacceptable move by the Trump White House. Apparently, this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless."Earlier on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused some news providers of broadcasting inaccurate information to the public. "We are fighting the fake news. It's fake, phoney, fake ... They are the enemy of the people."

The White House Correspondents Association said it was "protesting strongly" against the White House decision.

"The board will be discussing this further with White House staff," said president Jeff Mason.

During the off-camera briefing Sean Spicer defended their stance, saying that the White House has shown an "abundance of accessibility."

"We've actually gone above and beyond, with making ourselves, our team and our briefing room more accessible than probably any previous administration."

It is not uncommon for Republican and Democratic administrations to brief select reporters, but the event was initially billed as a regular briefing which is open to any credentialed media.