Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Wednesday claimed she treated journalists respectfully during press briefings to restore civil relationships.
Psaki’s remarks were made during a breakout session hosted by journalist Jennifer Steinhauer. The forum, “Notes from the Frying Pan to the Fire,” was conducted by the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.
The host began the afternoon session by asking Psaki about her view of Fox News’ reporter Peter Doocy, saying people were mesmerized by the regular sparring between her and Doocy.
“Some people think that you hate each other,” Steinhauer stated. “Some people think you secretly have brunch.” She asked Psaki what was her true role in those briefing room moments and what her approach was.
“First, let me say that I do like Peter Doocy, and that may not be popular with everybody,” Psaki responded, adding that was OK. “But part of the objective when I came into this job was to reestablish civility in the briefing room and make it a place where people could hear information through the media, to the public, not a place where there wasn’t debate and tough questioning.”
The former press secretary opined that civil exchanges between professionals holding different views is a sign that the system is working. She explained that she considered that an important part of our democracy. Psaki added it is also a strong message the U.S. sends to the rest of the world where regular exchanges with a free press is not a common thing.
“We made a decision from the beginning that part of restoring civility was treating people with respect in the briefing room, with, to calling on everyone, including Fox, which didn’t always have positive reporting about the President or the vice president,” Psaki continued. “And not making a dispute with Fox the story.”
“I will say, at the end of the day, we did not brunch, but we also didn’t hate each other,” Psaki stated. “It was somewhere in between. What I will say is that we had a civil, good relationship.”
The former press secretary did not speak about how easy it is to be civil when most reporters in the briefing room shared the same political beliefs as the administration.
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