By Charlotte Calick
As a relatively new member of the press core, my experience with White House press conferences is limited to what took place during the prior administration.
When Jen Psaki, the new White House Press Secretary, announced she would be holding her first back and forth with the media I was expecting much of the same as during the Trump years. By the time it finished, I was very confused.
My surprise started with the fact that it was scheduled for Wednesday, January 20th at 7:00pm and it actually started at 7:00. She walked into the James Brady Press Briefing Room and there was a smile on her face. Bizarre.
When she began, I guess she wanted to try something “out of the box” and simply talk about what the administration was doing. There was no outburst complaining of “fake news” or the press as “enemy of the people.” She said that if she did not know an answer she would get back to the reporter and promised to always tell the truth. What was going on here?
After her brief opening remarks it was now time for the question and answer part of the conference. Now it should get interesting.
Instead of starting with a question from Newsmax or OAN she first called on the AP wire reporter. A tradition of all press secretaries prior to Trump. She then proceeded to continue to answer questions from around the room.
She called on everyone from MSNBC to Fox News. She even took questions from foreign media and from small regional outlets. She referred to her binder to provide accurate answers and as she promised, those times she was unsure of the answer, she promised she would look into it and get back to them.
After 45 minutes of questions, sometimes calling on a reporter more than once, I thought I had seen it all. That was until the very end when she finished the conference with, “I will see you all back here tomorrow.”
Not next week, not a month from now, but tomorrow.
After doing some research on YouTube for White House Press Conference during the Obama, Bush, and Clinton years, it turns out that what Jenn Psaki did was pretty routine. The misinformation from Spicer, Sanders, and McEnany over the previous four years was actually the break from the norm.
As Psaki exited the room, the smile on my face that began from watching the swearing in just hours before remained on my face. I could only imagine what would come next. A plan to defeat COVID-19 or perhaps new laws to make all of our lives better. I am ready to be surprised again.
