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It was a remarkable little moment in cable news. On Thursday afternoon, CNN host Wolf Blitzer was speaking with correspondent Sara Murray about the upcoming White House press briefing. “Sara, I just want you to explain why, unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to show the White House briefing live to our viewers here in the United States and around the world.”

“This is an off-camera briefing,” Murray answered, noting that there would be audio but that it would be “embargoed” until after the briefing was over. “This is breaking with tradition. It’s something that is pretty new to the Trump administration, and Sarah Huckabee is coming out now.”

That “now” was a bit muted in the CNN broadcast, as the network complied with the White House directive that there would be no video and no live audio. So CNN grabbed a quick glance of White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders approaching the lectern in the briefing room. Then it quickly hustled to move to another shot — this one of Blitzer himself lamenting the new normal at the White House. “You saw Sarah Huckabee Sanders walk up to the lectern there on the podium, but the White House rules are that none of the cable networks, none of the broadcast networks are allowed to carry this briefing even though it’s a briefing that’s very, very important on a day when there’s a new Republican health-care bill that affects tens of millions of Americans out there — a sixth of the U.S. economy — a day when the president tells the world that as far as he knows, there are no tapes or recordings of his conversations with James Comey. Unfortunately the White House won’t allow us to bring that briefing to our viewers here in the United States and around the world live. … Strange to me, especially as a former White House correspondent, why on an important day like this, they don’t want the American public to see this live.”

Inexcusable, yes, but not that strange: The televised briefings have ruined the reputation of White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who is “toiling” to find someone who’ll do this kind of work, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/us/politics/im-right-here-sean-spicer-says-while-toiling-to-find-successor.html?mcubz=0">according to the New York Times</a>. Sanders isn’t quite so sullied, but Thursday’s proceedings didn’t look auspicious. Her boss, after all, had tweeted before the briefing:

Those tweets sort of provide an answer to one of the mysteries that has been surrounding the president for more than a month, since he tweeted about fired FBI director James Comey:

So, was that a threat? Why did he say that if he didn’t know of any tapes? What message was he trying to send? Those are the questions that Sanders was facing — not an appetizing spread for any PR type. No wonder the White House communications operation decided to suppress live reporting of the briefing.

And it worked, too. Or “worked”: Only CNN aired the entire audio after the session expired. MSNBC and Fox News covered other stuff.

With its delayed audio release, the White House is adopting the approach of the Supreme Court, that hallmark of mass access. In a famously stubborn and infuriating stance, the high court allows no cameras in its proceedings. It does, however, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio.aspx">release audiotapes</a>. Those releases come at the end of each “argument week,” however, a practice that may provide the White House a cue on a possible next step to reduce transparency.

Hamilton College, BA in Government

Georgetown University, MS in Foreign Service

Erik Wemple, The Washington Post's media critic, focuses on the cable-news industry. 

Erik Wemple

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The Washington Post Opinions section features opinion articles, op-eds, editorials by the Editorial Board, global opinions and letters to the editor on the issues of the day. Offerings include columns by Washington Post opinion writers, political cartoons by editorial cartoonists Ann Telnaes and Michael de Adder and podcasts by James Hohmann and Jonathan Capehart.