In 2014, CNN mocked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki — who was then serving as State Department spokeswoman — for getting “stumped” on a question.
The footage shows anchor John King slamming Psaki for being unprepared during a press conference: “Hillary Clinton was the Secretary of State before John Kerry. Jen Psaki is now the spokeswoman there… But you think she might do her homework and expect a question about Hillary Clinton.”
“Can you, off the top of your head, identify one tangible achievement that resulted from the last QDDR [Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review]?” asked one reporter during the press conference. Psaki deflected: “I am certain that those who were here at the time, who worked hard on that effort, could point out one.”
“That should not be a surprise question, should it?” King asked commenters Juana Summers and Nia-Malika Henderson.
“No,” replied Summers, “it shouldn’t have been a surprising question. And having an answer like that — that’s one for the reels for Republicans.”
CNN’s coverage of Psaki under the Obama administration sharply contrasts with their more amiable reporting in the present day.
As The Daily Wire’s Ben Johnson wrote last month, CNN’s Brian Stelter recently invited Psaki onto his show for an “in-depth interview” to discuss how the press could more faithfully see issues from the White House’s perspective. Stelter’s first question was: “What does the press get wrong when covering Biden’s agenda? When you watch the news, when you read the news, what do you think we get wrong?”
“Well, look, I think some of our muscles have atrophied a little bit over the last few years,” Psaki said. She asserted that people had forgotten how long and “messy the process of negotiating, and the process of getting legislation across the finish line, can be.”
Stelter then asked Psaki what makes her “comfortable” and “frustrated” in her role. Psaki replied that when “the premise of a question is based in inaccurate information, misleading information, that can be frustrating. I try not to show it too much, try not to let people see me sweat too much — but occasionally, I have a moment of humanity.”
Sean Spicer — who served as Press Secretary under the Trump administration — mocked Stelter’s affable coverage: “Alex, I’ll take questions I wish I’d gotten asked for $1,000.”
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Source: Dailywire
