The White House issued a formal warning to Today News Africa White House Correspondent Simon Ateba this week, informing him that he is at risk of losing his entry pass if he "continues to disrupt daily press briefings."
The formal warning comes after repeated exchanges between press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and the journalist from Cameroon who has interrupted her briefings to demand that he be recognized to ask a question.
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There are two things to say about this.
First, creating a new precedent like this will likely blow up in the face of aggressive liberal journalists next time there is a Republican president in office. Reporters such as Jim Acosta and April Ryan were notorious for their defiant moments — some would call them “outbursts” — during former President Donald Trump’s time in office.
If the Biden administration went through with removing Ateba’s entry pass, then there would be nothing stopping the next GOP administration from justifiably removing the passes of certain charismatic journalists when they become unruly as well.
This would not be the first time violating a norm would come back to bite the violator down the line.
After former Sen. Harry Reid changed Senate rules to reduce the necessary votes to move forward with most judicial nominees to a simple majority because it was expedient at the time, Mitch McConnell used that precedent to significantly expand the conservative reach on the judiciary and solidify a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
It ought to remind us that it is important to think about the second and third-order consequences of violating norms. After all, there is a reason norms are there in the first place. Changing standards for oneself means changing it for one’s opponents as well.
This brings us to the second point, which is that if the shoe was on the other foot — and it was, in fact, the Trump administration threatening Acosta or Ryan — there would be a massive uproar. Rhetoric about how this represents the end of democracy and an “unprecedented” attack on the free press would be everywhere. But it is no secret why there are no such dire warnings in this case: Much of the media is dedicated to working overtime to act as a PR firm for the White House. There are examples of this almost every day.
Nevertheless, I have no doubt that, in the future, if a Republican administration were to follow this precedent, it would still be accompanied by media hysterics.
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It will be interesting to see how this drama between the White House and Ateba shakes out, but it is also important to keep in mind every event happens within a larger context. In this case, it is an important conversation about norms and media bias.
Jack Elbaum is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner fellow.