A White House press corps reporter went rogue on Wednesday when she live-streamed audio of the daily press briefing, defying a Trump administration official’s orders.
The Trump Administration has scaled back the traditional daily press briefing in recent weeks and has been holding more and more briefings off camera, a move that has concerned journalists and caused them to question the administration’s commitment to transparency under President Donald Trump.
But despite growing unrest, reporters have shied away from directly disobeying White House guidelines prohibiting news outlets from live streaming video or audio of the press briefings — until Wednesday.
Fed up with the Trump administration’s shady press briefings, reporter Ksenija Pavlovic, founder and editor-in-chief of Pavlovic Today, live streamed audio from the briefing via Periscope in the first known stance a journalist has taken against the White House’s changing policy toward the daily press briefing.
Pavlovic posted her Periscope link to twitter, urging followers to “join ‘Audio-only’ live-streaming of the White House #PressBriefing.”
Join “Audio-only” live streaming of the White House #PressBriefing with Sarah H. Sanders https://t.co/kWRyf4wbAq
— K. Pavlovic (@ksenijapavlovic) July 19, 2017
The White House had not held an on-camera press briefing since June 29 and live audio and video has been banned at every briefing since.
Fox News, MSNBC and CNN all aired delayed coverage of the off-camera briefing because of White House instructions, The Hill reported.
Two audio clips capture White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Marc Short, director of legislative affairs, speaking.
Pavlovic posted the two audio clips to Twitter — the first is about 17 minutes long and the second is 31 minutes.
In the scratchy audio, Huckabee Sanders can be heard introducing Short.
On Twitter, people hailed Pavlovic as a hero.
“You are my hero history won’t soon forget those who stood up to this fascist regime – you go girl!!” Twitter user @TheSasssypriest wrote.
“Standing up for what’s right is patriotic. Thank you,” user @mel_med_larson wrote.
