Mike McCurry, the first White House press secretary to let networks carry the president’s daily press briefings, cautioned in an interview out Wednesday against airing them live.
Mr. McCurry, who served as President Bill Clinton’s press secretary from 1995 to 1998, expressed regret about opening up the briefings while speaking recently to Mediaite.
“The mistake I made: briefings should have been available for broadcast but embargoed until they concluded,” Mr. McCurry said during an interview this week, according to the website. “It was not supposed to be a live TV show. It should only be one ingredient of what reporters use to decide how to report.”
Mr. McCurry, 65, made the comments amid concerns over networks airing President Trump’s press briefings about his administration’s handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Nearly a year since the White House effectively abandoned the practice of holding televised press briefings, the Trump administration reversed course in recent weeks by putting the president in front of reporters and cameras on a near-daily basis to discuss the continuing public health crisis.
Mr. Trump has faced fierce criticism over his conduct during the briefings, however, and some networks have begun to limit their coverage instead of airing them live.
The president notably came under fire after discussing during a White House briefing Thursday whether COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, could be treated using disinfectants. Several poison control centers subsequently reported experiencing a spike in calls afterward, fueling existing debates about the benefits, if any, of broadcasting the briefings as they happen.
“It is the responsibility of the president and White House to provide public information,” Mr. McCurry told Mediaite. “However, it is the role of the media to decide how to cover those briefings. They do not need to be carried live. They can be recorded, and then good journalists can decide what is or is not newsworthy.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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