Trump accused of mistrusting conservative media after White House summit

Donald Trump has hosted a reception exclusively for members of the conservative media, in what many say was an attempted to build positive press in advance of his first 100 days.

Mr Trump invited conservative radio hosts like Laura Ingraham, Larry O’Connor and John Fredericks to the White House, along with reporters from the Washington Free Beacon, Christian Broadcast Network, The Eternal Word Television Network, Daily Caller, and Breitbart.

Breitbart is already a familiar face at the White House, as founding member Steve Bannon now serves as one of Mr Trump's top advisers. The Daily Caller, meanwhile, is known for incendiary headlines such as "Barack Obama, Killing Machine?" and "Barack Obama, Wife Beater." (The former of which consists exclusively of photos of Barack Obama wearing a white tank top commonly referred to as a "wife beater.")

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the reception was meant to give access to news outlets that were “neglected” over the last eight years.

“We’ve definitely done our fair share of meetings with mainstream reporters,” Mr Spicer told Politico. “Once in awhile it’s important to appreciate the folks who have really covered the president fairly and covered a lot of issues ignored by mainstream media.”

News of the dinner spread at the same time Mr Trump sent off a flurry of tweets about recent opinions polls. In his tweets, Mr Trump called much of the media is “FAKE” and “almost always negative.”

Larry Stuelpnagel, former political journalist and an associate professor at Northwestern University, said the private reception could have been a warning to the mainstream media.

“I think it’s just a signal – in a week, in particular, when the White House Correspondents Dinner is coming up – that the administration could be trying to shoot yet another message at the media,” Mr Stuelpnagel told The Independent.

Mr Trump has declined to attend the White House Correspondents’ dinner; a typically lighthearted affair between the president and his press pool. The last president to skip the Correspondents’ Dinner was Ronald Reagan, who was recovering from an assassination attempt.

The timing of Mr Trump’s reception also coincided with another major event – Mr Trump’s first 100 days in office. Though Mr Trump has dismissed the milestone as “arbitrary,” many in Washington view the president’s achievements up to that date as an indicator of his political effectiveness.

Mr Stuelpnagel said Mr Trump may have timed the media reception to ensure good press around the milestone.

“Presidents certainly want to have a friendly audience, particularly when you have someone that’s had such a tumultuous first 100 days as [Mr Trump] has had,” Mr Stuelpnagel said. “...He wants good press. This is a way to guarantee it.”

Reports from Monday's reception seem to confirm this notion. Attendees told Politico that half of the reporters in the room only asked questions they knew Mr Trump wanted to answer. Others told The Hill that answers to harder-hitting questions went unreported, because White House staff told reporters the meeting was off the record until after it ended.

“There’s no tape, no transcript – I guess some people will be able to write what they remember or scribbled down notes, but you can’t really do it without a transcript or quotes from a recording,” one attendee told The Hill.

Former President Barack Obama also held closed-door meetings with select media outlets while in office, though they usually reflected a wider range of viewpoints. One 2013 meeting included writers from MSNBC, Mother Jones, and Fox News. Another included conservative columnists from The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Fox News.

The Trump White House, meanwhile, has generated controversy for barring mainstream outlets from traditionally open events.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer locked reporters from The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, Politico and more out of a press gaggle in February. In audio from the gaggle, Mr Spicer can be heard saying he will “aggressively push back," against “false narratives, false stories and inaccurate facts” from the mainstream media.

Mr Stuelpnagel, however, said the Trump administration’s tactics are unlikely to have their desired effects.

“The scoops that we’re seeing from the White House, the big story items, aren’t generally coming from press conferences or these one-on-ones,” Mr Stuelpnagel said. “They’re coming from journalists going out and doing their job and digging. If [Mr Trump] wants to hold exclusive audiences, he can. But that’s not going to stop real reporters from doing real work.”