New White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci promised on Twitter Monday that future press briefings will be televised.
“The TV cameras are back on,” he tweeted.
The TV Cameras are back on.
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) July 24, 2017
The White House has been sharply criticized by the press for frequently banning audio and video streaming of the press briefings, a move the media has called undemocratic.
In May, President Trump threatened to cancel the briefings entirely and instead hand out written statements.
Former press secretary Sean Spicer said that the on-camera briefings were a distraction from the president’s message because journalists were using repetitive and snarky questions as a way to become “YouTube stars.”
However, after Spicer resigned on Friday, the White House held its first televised briefing in nearly a month with Scaramucci and new press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the helm.
During an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, Scaramucci said he personally prefers to have the cameras on but that the final decision would be up to the president.
“If you’re asking me for my personal opinion — and maybe the president will be upset for giving my personal — we should put the cameras on,” Scaramucci said. “That’s no problem. I don’t think we need to have the cameras off.”
“But if the president doesn’t want the cameras on, guess what? We’re not going to have the cameras on,” he asserted. “It’s going to really be up to him. But I think we should put the cameras on.”