Pentagon marks a year without press secretary briefings
The Pentagon on Friday marked a year without regularly scheduled press briefings, underscoring what journalists and former officials have described as a decline in transparency and public engagement at a time when the military faces growing threats from China, Russia and Iran.
The halt to what for years had been at least weekly televised briefings by a department press secretary, along with a reduction in other media engagements, reflects a broader chill in news organizations' dealings with the Trump administration, which has depicted the press as an adversary. President Donald Trump's press secretary, Sarah Sanders, has given formal briefings in the White House briefing room only twice this year, while the State Department this week resumed televised press briefings after an on-and-off hiatus.
"The long absence in the Pentagon Briefing Room has deprived journalists of an important part of that access and has removed opportunities to compel officials to answer for decisions they make on behalf of the American people," said Robert Burns, a veteran Pentagon correspondent for the Associated Press who is the president of the Pentagon Press Association. "We are hopeful that this will change soon," he said in a statement.
Tom Crosson, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Pentagon was "committed to transparency to the media and the public."
President Trump has said his is the most transparent administration in American history.
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/pentagon-marks-a-year-without-press-secretary-briefings-1.584057
