Shift in White House Press Strategy Puts Focus on Policy

President Donald Trump’s new communications strategy appears to be showing some results.

The Trump White House has gotten more on-message, getting out its narratives, and avoiding being bogged down by negative hits from the media. Despite a Tuesday setback on the Obamacare replace bill in the Senate, the month has seen a marked shift from the chaotic days of May, especially after the firing of FBI Director James Comey. There has been relative peace and quiet.

There has even been less talk of the “Russian issue,” which the media continue to play up. Trump even crowed on Tuesday about the resignations of three CNN journalists for a faulty story that CNN deleted on Friday.

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For now, the changes to the overall White House press strategy are expected to stay in place, including the reduction in on-camera daily news briefings, according to Sean Spicer, Trump’s press secretary.

Spicer told LifeZette late Tuesday the White House will continue to “have a mix” of on-camera and off-camera press briefings — indefinitely.

The reduction in daily on-camera briefings by Spicer or his chief deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has angered much of the Washington press corps. But Spicer said it allows Trump, if he has an announcement or appearance, to carry the day in video clips on prized TV spots. In the past, some of the often contentious White House daily briefings seemed to clash with other messaging.

Spicer denied to LifeZette that the White House was negotiating with the White House Correspondents’ Association about on-camera briefings.

So far, in June, the White House has dramatically cut down on the number of on-camera briefings. There have six in June; 10 briefings have been held off-camera. Three workdays had no briefing, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News.

Spicer has also placed restrictions on the use of audio at some afternoon briefings.

The goal is to better control and manage the president’s daily messaging — no easy task given Trump’s fondness for Twitter.

And it’s a task made no easier by the media’s insatiable demand for video of reporters pressing Spicer on the issues of the day, which are usually Russia-related.

Spicer told LifeZette on Tuesday that there is “benefit” to a discussion with reporters off-camera. Last week on “The Laura Ingraham Show,” he told LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham  that too many reporters were using the daily press briefings to create attention for themselves.

“There’s a lot of them that want to become YouTube stars and ask some snarky question that’s been asked eight times,” Spicer said.

The new strategy seems to be working. In June, the White House seems more calm in its daily press operations. But reporters and editors argue the price has been transparency to the public.

Jeff Mason, the White House Correspondents’ Association president, said in a statement last week that the press group wants to return to daily on-camera press briefings by the press secretary, which have been standard practice since the mid-1990s.

Spicer told LifeZette the White House is not negotiating with the association about the issue.

Other changes are afoot, too. At Monday’s Rose Garden press event for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump chose to take no questions from the U.S. or Indian media. It was a rare media snub for the press at a major appearance with a foreign leader.

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In a perfect world, it would be good to have a daily, on-camera press briefing, said Sam Nunberg, an attorney who worked on the Trump campaign and had worked for Trump for more than four years.

But the tone since Trump’s inauguration has been harsh, and many questions have been on Russia, said Nunberg. Answering questions on Russian hacking and so-called collusion pose a legal risk, he said, because the issue is being investigated by the FBI and the special counsel.

Changes in the press briefing go beyond camera arrangements. The White House has discussed for weeks using more Cabinet members. And on Tuesday, the press office did just that.

An on-camera briefing kicked off Tuesday with Energy Secretary Rick Perry playing up the White House focus on “Energy Week.” Perry generally delighted reporters by taking numerous questions.

The use of Cabinet secretaries at the daily press briefings with Spicer is considered a success by some advisers, and a necessary change in strategy after months of letting Spicer stand alone and take the heat from reporters.

Cabinet secretaries such as Mick Mulvaney, director of Office of Management and Budget, tend to know their issues in detail, and can easily spar with reporters on the issues — and on topics the White House welcomes questions about.

But with Spicer, reporters have often brought up the issue of Russian hacking, in dogged attempts to tar the president with scandal. Trump has also been irked by how the press dogs Spicer on self-inflicted wounds, such as the White House’s insistence that Trump’s inauguration crowds were the largest ever.

Still, with CNN’s retraction of a major Russia-related story on Friday, Trump and his press operations likely feel they have gained an advantage over a mainstream media that may have gone to the well of anonymous sources too many times.

The White House press corps and liberal outlets are fighting back. On Monday, CNN’s Jim Acosta badgered and interrupted Spicer at an off-camera briefing. On Tuesday, Playboy columnist Brian Karem interrupted Spicer deputy Sanders’ press briefing, accusing her of “inflaming” sentiment against the media.

Such attacks on the White House usually get play on YouTube and elsewhere, as Spicer has said. By Tuesday evening, Karem, who also writes for a Montgomery County, Maryland, newspaper, had been invited to appear on MSNBC’s “Hardball” to discuss his claims.