White House press secretary Sarah Sanders rebuked CNN’s Jim Acosta for asking questions “in a tone that’s completely unnecessary, unneeded, and frankly doesn’t help further the conversation or help the American people” on Wednesday during the daily press briefing.

After Sanders called on Acosta, he began by asking about the controversies surrounding President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Dr. Ronny Jackson, the current physician to the president. The exchange went downhill from there.

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“Yesterday, the president suggested that Dr. Jackson does not have the experience to run the Department of Veterans Affairs. Is that a fair assessment of his experience?” Acosta asked Sanders.

“That’s not what the president said. I think you’re taking some of his words out of context, and based on your tweet today, I know you don’t appreciate when people take your words out of context. So I’d appreciate if you’d not do that to the president.”

Acosta complained in a tweet earlier Wednesday that comments from his recent interview with Variety were “twisted by some outlets” and taken out of context.

“Since you brought up being taken out of context, this seems to be a press-related question — are you trying to say that this administration is a champion of free press?” Acosta asked Sanders.

Sanders replied, “I certainly think that, as I have stated a moment ago, we support a free press, but we also support a fair press.”

Freedom and fairness should go hand in hand because “There’s a certain responsibility by the press to report accurate information,” Sanders continued.

Acosta interrupted, saying that “It’s certainly a responsibility on the part of the president.”

Sanders then praised “a number of people in this room” who report freely and fairly “every single day.” Acosta, she argued, was not one of those reporters.

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“They do their very best to provide fair and accurate information, we certainly support that. That’s one of the reasons I’m standing here taking your questions,” Sanders said, noting that “a lot of times” she takes questions from Acosta “in a tone that’s completely unnecessary, unneeded, and frankly doesn’t help further the conversation or help the American people get any more information in a better way, which is your job and my job, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

As Sanders said she was moving on to another reporter, Acosta complained, “The president’s tone towards the press obviously is not helpful at times, and I think that’s plain to see.”

Acosta later fretted on CNN about the exchange between himself and Sanders. April Ryan, a CNN political analyst and White House reporter for American Urban Radio Networks, also commented on the exchange.

“[Sanders] defended the president vehemently, but this president has been the biggest leader when it comes to railing against the press,” Ryan said. “He’s the leader when it comes to fake news.”

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Curtis Houck, managing editor of the Media Research Center (MRC), blasted Acosta, Ryan and CNN on Twitter for the commentary following the exchange.

“Excellent example of the @CNN feedback loop that EVERYTHING is about them -> Jim @Acosta suffers meltdown in briefing, @Acosta gets to talk about it immediately afterward, and now @BrookeBCNN is talking about it with her panel. And @CNN wants to attack @FoxNews? Give me a break,” Houck tweeted.

“.@CNN is the very definition of pompousness. Chest-thumping about Jim @Acosta and the freedom of the press being under attack as if journalists are imprisoned and slamming the notion of accuracy is so absurd. @CNN thinks the #1A only concerns them,” Houck added.

“While Jim @Acosta and @AprilDRyan want to make themselves the center of attention by repeatedly talking about threats they’ve received, threats to members of Congress are growing and they’re not going around and talking about that in every interview.”

PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.