Right wing media are complaining that Biden is target conservative journalists by requiring them to apply for press credentials from Congress or SCOTUS. Journalist credential from SCOTUS? Congress? Certainly these are strange arbiters of media access to the White House. The left wing media in the company of The Washington Post said this policy isn't "a headline-making monstrosity". Given Biden use of every means necessary to control the institutions of government, it may be another effort to limit access & criticism of his administration. Or, it may not. Reflecting back however, on media reactions to former President Trump's attempts to control of media access reveals contradictions in reactions one might expect. 2019 The Post applied for and was granted exceptions for its White House correspondents, Dana Milbank says, but he was not given one. “I strongly suspect it’s because I’m a Trump critic,” he wrote on Wednesday. “The move is perfectly in line with Trump’s banning of certain news organizations, including The Post, from his campaign events and his threats to revoke White House credentials of journalists he doesn’t like.” The White House has implemented new rules that it says will cut down on the number of journalists who hold “hard” passes, the credentials that allow reporters and technicians to enter the grounds without seeking daily permission. The new policy has been met with some confusion and even worry among journalists, some of whom suspect that the ultimate aim is to keep critics in the press away from the White House and President Trump. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders explicitly denied that, saying the changes were prompted by security concerns, not to punish journalists. “No one’s access is being limited,” she said Wednesday night. 2018 Press secretary Sarah Sanders last walked up to the lectern in the White House press briefing room on Oct. 3 after a 23-day drought. Before that, there had been an 18-day stretch with no briefing. Early in the Trump administration, the regular White House press briefings were must-see TV, getting big ratings for the sparring between press secretary and press. In recent months, though, the briefings have shrunk away to the point at which calling them "daily" would be a severe misnomer. 2017 The White House barred several news organizations from an off-camera press briefing on Friday, handpicking a select group of reporters that included a number of conservative outlets friendly toward Donald Trump. The “gaggle” with Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, took place in lieu of his daily briefing and was originally scheduled as an on-camera event. But the White House press office announced later in the day that the Q&A session would take place off camera before only an “expanded pool” of journalists, and in Spicer’s West Wing office as opposed to the James S Brady press briefing room where it is typically held. Outlets seeking to gain entry whose requests were denied included the Guardian, the New York Times, Politico, CNN, BuzzFeed, the BBC, the Daily Mail and others. Conservative publications such as Breitbart News, the One America News Network and the Washington Times were allowed into the meeting, as well as TV networks CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC. The Associated Press and Time were invited but boycotted the briefing. It would appear that they are both correct. Limiting critical access. Though the combative journalists at Trump press conferences did require some attention to decorum and professionalism.

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