New Press Secretary, Same MRC Hate: March 2023

The Media Research Center was happy to have Peter Doocy to fluff again, and it praised a reporter for an obscure African website for throwing temper tantrums in the White House briefing room.

By Terry Krepel
Posted 6/6/2023

Curtis Houck

Though he had been back for a few weeks since the February 1 birth of his daughter with wife and Fox Business correspondent Hillary Vaughn, Wednesday marked Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy’s first White House briefing since January 27. Not surprisingly, he was still prepared as he grilled the ever-inept Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on whether President Biden is “afraid of China.”

Doocy started with that very question: “Why is President Biden afraid of China?” Jean-Pierre insisted that he’s not and her evidence was comical as she invoked Biden’s visit to Ukraine.

“Look, this is not a President who's afraid of anything. It was a historic trip that many of you said was brave, so clearly, this is a president that's not afraid to go to a war zone,” she said, arguing that Doocy’s question was bunk because...journalists loved Biden in Ukraine?

Doocy countered that, along with China being allowed to fly “spycraft over the U.S.” and nothing happened to them, Biden hasn’t shown a willingness to punish them when they “may have created something that has killed more 1.1 million people in this country”.

Jean-Pierre said a whole lot of nothing as, on the balloon, Biden “did take that down...collected information from it...protected on national security information on the ground, and “protected the American people.”

Houck then gushed that Doocy "dropped the hammer" with a question about the origins of COVID, then whined that "A meandering essay later about Biden’s “leadership” ensuring “the economy is growing again” and “tak[ing] on COVID” and Biden showing leadership by having “the intelligence community” discuss amongst themselves, she moved on."

Houck was still fanboying over Doocy's return in a second post on that day's briefing:

Along with the return of Fox’s Peter Doocy on Wednesday to the White House Press Briefing Room and some tough questions for the ever-inept Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on TikTok, there were a host of other topics that piqued our interests, including Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) revoking Disney’s self-governance status, the D.C. City Council attempting to rewrite their criminal code, the murder of a Catholic bishop, and the alleged bigotry from the Richmond, Virginia FBI field office.

Then Houck got lazy again, summing up several succeeding briefings in a single March 7 post:

With briefings on Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday, the ever-inept Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has had a lot of camera time as of late and the liberal media came at her with questions of substance and activism. Most notably, they’ve hit her from the left on the D.C. crime bill, Florida and Texas addressing the Biden border crisis, illegal immigration, Tennessee passing legislation to protect children from graphic sexual content, and Tucker Carlson.

Thankfully, others showed up with questions about the anti-cop riot in Atlanta, energy independence, green technology hypocrisy, government surveillance, and Russian sanctions.

Below are the five worst and then the five best questions from the last four briefings. Each category is presented in chronological order.

Needless to say, the "best" questions advanced right-wing narratives and the "worst" questions didn't -- and the top "best" question is from Doocy.

Kevin Tober popped up to once again smear Jean-Pierre as an incompetent diversity hire in a March 12 post for the sin of not speaking as glibly as he demands:

On Friday night, President Biden’s thoroughly unqualified diversity hire press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appeared on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes for a wide-ranging interview. While to any competent Democrat press secretary, this would be an easy interview to get through, but as she has proven before, that is not the case with Jean-Pierre who even on her best day is seemingly incapable of putting a coherent sentence together.

Due to recent reports that have been circulating in the press that the Biden administration is considering a return to the Trump-era migrant detention policies, Hayes simply asked for a confirmation of whether these reports have any merit.

The result was a meandering, incoherent response that barely sounded like English: "So, what I want to be very clear here and I've answered this question, as you know Chris many times in the briefing room, and we as a administration has as well."

[...]

You have to wonder if this somehow is a second language for her. She is in way over her head and should never have been hired for this job. If the Biden regime wasn’t so obsessed with diversity, she wouldn’t be the Press Secretary.

Houck then trotted over to Fox News to slag Jean-Pierre some more for a March 19 TV hit:

With the topic in his wheelhouse, NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck was back on the Fox News Channel late Friday/early Saturday for Fox News @ Night to sound off on the latest antics from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and the White House’s purposeful restricting of press access to President Biden amid a litany of domestic and foreign crises.

Reacting to a mini-skirmish from Thursday’s briefing in which even friendly liberal journalists blasted Jean-Pierre and her team for keeping Biden from even traditional press conferences with foreign leaders, Houck said the issue “shouldn’t be partisan” and certainly at a time when people “want to hear from the President.”

Oddly, Houck didn't find the Jean-Pierre "antics" he described so egregious that he could be bothered to write about that for his employer.

Tober got his usual malicious shots in at Jean-Pierre again in his writeup of the March 22 briefing:

Once again, the first half of Wednesday’s White House press briefing featured National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby to serve as a crutch for incompetent White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Yet even during what WMAL radio talk show host Vince Coglianese referred to as “the grownup press briefing” there was at least one noteworthy moment.

This came from Fox Business correspondent Grady Trimble who pointed out how the Biden administration seems to be talking out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to the dangers of the Chinese spyware app TikTok.

[...]

Once Kirby was gone and the children’s version of the briefing began with the inept Jean-Pierre, things got more interesting.

First up was the Associated Press’s Aamer Madhani who wanted Jean-Pierre to weigh in once again on Florida Republican Ron DeSantis’s anti-grooming legislation.

Funny, we thought the MRC hated it when the media didn't call the Florida law by its official name (which doesn't involve the words "anti-grooming"). Tober went on to whine about "the most pathetic moment of the entire briefing, when USA Today reporter Rebecca Morin (who has pronouns in her Twitter bio) tattled on Texas Governor Greg Abbott and basically begged the Justice Department to sue him for daring to secure his state’s border." Tober didn't explain what relevance declaring one's pronouns has to, well, anything. He then moved on to the Fox News PR segment of his post for the MRC's favorite biased reporter and mancrush:

Then came the moment everyone was waiting for: “Doocy Time” (as NewsBusters’ Curtis Houck has coined).

Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy didn’t waste time. He asked the most important question of the day which was regarding the Biden crime family’s mounting scandals: “House Oversight says they’ve got bank records showing a Chinese energy company paying three Biden family members through a third party. What were they paid for?”

Jean-Pierre played dumb and demurred, “I don’t even where to begin to even answer that question because, again, it’s been lies and lies and inaccuracy for the past couple years.”

Doocy moved on and asked about the deteriorating relationship between the United States and China: “Xi told Putin at their meeting, ‘Change is coming that hasn’t happened in 100 years. And we are driving this change together.’ What do you think that means?”

Again, Jean-Pierre had no answer. “You would have to ask them,” she replied.

Houck returned to write up the March 27 briefing to whine that reporters at the briefing talked about the gun massacre in Nashville earlier that day:

Monday’s White House press briefing came after initial reports on the deadly shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee that left six people (three students, three adults) dead and thus gave reporters to flaunt their liberal views.

Most notably, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell channeled Rahm Emanuel by ghoulishly speculating the reports of the shooter being a woman could represent a “breakthrough” against those backward Americans stuck in their “gun culture.”

Houck was so focused on defending guns that he forgot to insult Jean-Pierre.

Houck also whined that reporters asked about the gun massacre at a private school in Nashville earlier that day, complaining that reporters "flaunt[ed] their liberal views" by asking about gun regulations and whether the fact that the shooter was a woman might change things: "Jean-Pierre declined to comment on the gender because she wanted to remain 'mindful' despite having seen 'those reportings [sic].' On guns, she said Biden would 'continue to take action to reduce gun violence because this is a priority for him and he wants to save lives' and hoped Congress would 'enact common gun law reforms'."

Double standard on aggressive reporters

The MRC loves Simon Ateba -- who works for a tiny website he founded called Today News Africa -- because he's their kind of jerk. Houck cheered how Ateba caused "chaos" last year during Jen Psaki's final briefing as White House press secretary with fits of "shouting" and "heckling," and he's still at it. A March 20 post by Houck insisted Ateba's antics are no worse than the tough questioning asked by Trump-era reporters:

Monday’s White House press briefing was unlike any other so far as Today News Africa’s Simon Ateba seized the spotlight and, seconds after ever-inept Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stepped to the podium, began berating Jean-Pierre for allegedly not having called on him in seven months.

When he wouldn’t quiet down and let Jean-Pierre introduce the cast of Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso (who were there to promote mental health), other reporters got involved and it descended into a rather tense scene that would soon be repeated moments later.

One could argue the move harkened back to the days of liberal activists masquerading as journalists with Jim Acosta, Brian Karem, and April Ryan pitching daily hissy fits that left them financially enriched and subjects of puffball profiles. Of course, their juvenile outbursts were never met with apologies from the Associated Press or officers in the White House Correspondents Association.

Houck seemed a little jealous of them for doing better on a professional level than him. But as he documented Ateba's ranting, he offered no evidence whatsoever that it equated to anything Acosta (a longtime enemy of the MRC because he refused to be the pro-Trump shill it demanded he be) and others did:

Once Ateba started shouting, Jean-Pierre clapped back: “No, no, no, no, no. No. Nope. That’s not — we’re not doing this. We’re not doing this. We’re not doing this. We’re not doing this.”

Ateba replied that she had been “dismissive against me” and “against some people in this Briefing Room," adding, “[T]his is the U.S. This not China. This not Russia. This not Russia.”

One reporter interjected to ask Ateba to “stop” while Karem had the irony to interject and asked him to “let her start.”

After Ateba shouted that Jean-Pierre was “making a mockery of the First Amendment,” more reporters started indiscernible shouting, but Karem could be heard demanding he “respect her” while NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell (vice president of the WHCA) repeatedly called for, “decorum, please.”

Ateba kept going, saying “[i]t’s been seven months you have not called on me. I’m saying that’s not right. That’s not right.”

Jean-Pierre turned to make a joke to the Ted Lasso cast that they had quite the “untimed welcome,” Ateba kept shouting: “I see you’re trying to censor me and some people, but that’s not right.”

She asked if the room was “ready to behave,” but Ateba kept screaming, so NPR’s Tamara Keith (president of the WHCA) shouted, “Simon” while O’Donnell again asked for “decorum” and said she was “sorry to our guests.”

[...]

Ateba briefly relented to have Jean-Pierre offer a dressing down, reminding them that the “historic” Brady Briefing Room “should have decorum...where folks should respect their colleagues and respect...guests” even though there will “be give and take.”

“[W]hat I will not appreciate is disrespecting your colleagues and disrespecting guests who are here to talk...about an incredibly important issue, which is mental health. And what is just occurred...is unacceptable,” she added, leaving to more claims of “discrimination” from Ateba.

The next day, Nicholas Fondacaro rushed to Ateba's defense when the co-hosts of "The View" criticized his unprofessional behavior:

Following an explosive exchange between Today News Africa’s Simon Ateba and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday, the cast of ABC’s The View had their knives out Tuesday for the reporter as they took turns taking swipes in defense of a friend of the show. But in a series of tweets in near real-time, Ateba shot back and called them out for allegedly spreading big lies about stuff he didn’t write.

Suggesting Ateba was a “troll,” Whoopi Goldberg claimed “he does this all the time. This may be one of the reasons she doesn't call on him, because he can be combative.” And she scoffed at the idea that he might be right “about being ignored at the briefings.”

“You have to look at your behavior, sir. You have to look at your behavior because nobody wants to be jumped. Nobody wants to be jumped up there. The gig is tough enough,” she would later whine on Jean-Pierre’s behalf.

[...]

Hostin did suggest that Ateba was more legitimate than Peter Doocy since Fox News was “infotainment” in her eyes. And Behar decried him for going on Tucker Carlson’s show later that night. “He ran to Tucker Carlson right after this, so that tells you where he's at,” she chided.

The fact that Ateba ran to Tucker Carlson for his victory lap is another reason the MRC is defending him.

Tim Graham didn't quite defend Ateba in his March 22 column, but he did play the "he's just like Jim Acosta card":

The briefing room is usually a tank of hungry sharks for a Republican press secretary, and a classroom full of teacher’s pets for a Democrat press secretary. The news cycle has to be pretty negative for reporters to sound hostile to Biden’s press aides.

On March 20, black reporter Simon Ateba from an obscure website called “Today News Africa” began screaming at the very top of the briefing that current press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was not calling on him so he could ask his questions. Other reporters joined the fight, insisting Ateba press his complaints off camera.

There should be decorum at press briefings. The White House is not a place for egotistical shouting by reporters, no matter the outlet. But some people have thought they could secure fame and fortune by doing it. Ateba scored friendly interviews with Fox and Newsmax.

[...]

Before him, CNN’s Jim Acosta routinely yelled at President Trump, and was celebrated as heroic and was gushed over by Stephen Colbert. Acosta constantly suggested Trump would get journalists brutalized or killed, and wrote a self-congratulatory memoir titled The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America.

In 2017, April Ryan squabbled with Trump press secretary Sean Spicer, and then she joined CNN as a political analyst. That year, she also was named “Journalist of the Year” by the National Association of Black Journalists.” This will never happen to Simon Ateba. She also wrote a self-promoting memoir titled Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House.

Brian Karem, who wrote about Trump for Playboy, also secured a political-analyst gig at CNN after yelling at Sarah Huckabee Sanders. So it was remarkable hypocrisy for Karem to scold Ateba about how this “isn’t just about you” and to “mind your manners.”

Like Houck, Graham offered no evidence that Ateba's ranting are exactly the same as what Acosta, et al, did. Instead, he offered himself as a model of decorum in his brief attempt to pass himself off as a real reporter:

I was a White House reporter in the first two years of President George W. Bush for World magazine, a Christian news weekly. I didn’t always get called on, but I never raised my voice, since that wouldn’t have reflected well on my employer. I resisted the temptation to ask press secretary Ari Fleischer naughty questions like “do you think Helen Thomas has become a crackpot?”

Of course, because he was "covering" a Republican administration for a right-wing "Christian news weekly" -- that is, fluffing Bush and crew for a similarly biased audience -- Graham would never have been so gauche as to ask an even remotely unfriendly question of Fleischer, which he proved by offering that the only critical question he would have asked involved attacking another reporter.

In other words, he was doing exactly what he accuses reporters with the "liberal media" of doing right now. That's a big reason to never take him and the MRC seriously in their "media research."

Days later, Graham was still going on about this. An anonymously written March 28 post hyped Graham appearing on Fox Business to whine about it:

NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham appeared on the Fox Business show Varney & Co. on Tuesday morning to discuss his nationally syndicated column on reporters who have screamed in the White House briefing room. Host Stuart Varney showed some very polite questions from correspondents in the Biden White House briefing room.

Varney asked if there were any reporters who were "willing to take on Biden, given all this failures?" Graham replied "I'd have to start with the reporters from Fox and Fox Business, you know?" So there's Steve Doocy and Jacqui Heinrich from Fox, as well as Ed Lawrence and Hillary Vaughn from Fox Business. He noted they challenge Biden and press aides politely, no screaming.

Varney asked if there was anyone else. "There are a few others," he said. There's Philip Wegmann at Real Clear Politics, James Rosen of Newsmax, and Blake Burman of NewsNation.

Strangely, neither Graham nor Varney brought up Ateba, even though he was prominent in the column Graham was promoting. Instead, the usual names were brought up, though the anonymous writer actually dinged his boss for getting a fact wrong:

Varney then asked if April Ryan "took a job" on TV after her antics. Graham noted she became a CNN analyst. (He also said Jim Acosta became a CNN analyst, but that was an oops -- Acosta was their screaming CNN reporter. We'll guess he meant [Brian] Karem, the Playboy writer, as he mentioned in his column.)

Needless to say, neither Graham nor Varney cited any specific examples of this supposed bad behavior by these reporters, let alone any explanation of how they purportedly equaled Ateba's behavior.