White House Appears To Edit Out Simon Ateba From Press Briefing After KJP Touts Media Transparency

The White House appeared to edit out Today News Africa’s Simon Ateba from their Monday press briefing video on YouTube, no longer showing press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre threatning to end the presser after Ateba asked a series of questions.

The White House posted an apparently edited version of the briefing to YouTube that cut out the interaction between Ateba and Jean-Pierre. The video jumps from White House national security spokesman John Kirby to a shot of Jean-Pierre speaking at the podium, beginning at the 1:02:00-minute mark. However, other feeds of the press briefing show that Jean-Pierre and Ateba had a short, heated exchange, as seen in this NBC News stream beginning at roughly the 44-minute mark, after Kirby steps away from the podium.

As Jean-Pierre took the stage, Ateba accused her of refusing to call on him for several months. Minutes earlier, Jean-Pierre had said the administration is “committed to freedom of the press.”

“You’ve been discriminating against me for the past nine months,” Ateba alleged.

“Stop. How is she discriminating?” one reporter could be heard asking.

“She called on you, she gave you a few questions,” Ateba responded. “Please, allow me to do my job and ask my question.”

Jean-Pierre attempted to call on another reporter but Ateba continued, prompting Jean-Pierre to threaten to end the briefing.

“If this continues, we’re gonna end the press briefing. If this continues – you’re being incredibly rude. You’re being incredibly rude. You’re talking over your colleagues.”