Scott Walker's 2016 presidential campaign “is quickly building a reputation as the most press-averse group in the Republican field,” wrote Dylan Byers, a media reporter for the Politico website, this week.
“On Tuesday,” Byers stated, “Walker's policy team held a press call with reporters to discuss the Wisconsin governor's health-care plan, as well as his intention to repeal and replace ObamaCare.”
“But when reporters tried to submit a question, they were greeted by a press aide who demanded to know what question each reporter intended to ask,” he stated.
"Was on Gov. Walker health plan press call. First time as a reporter I've ever had my questions pre-screened before I could ask them,” Stephanie Armour, the Wall Street Journal's health-care policy reporter, tweeted after the call.
A Walker spokesperson quickly responded: "No reporters were denied questions."
Nevertheless, “this is not the first time Walker and his team have exercised extreme caution when dealing with the press,” Byers indicated.
“It goes without saying that the governor has held his share of press interviews and media scrums,” the Politico staffer stated, “but campaign reporters have noted the cautious attitude among his team -- which is especially notable given the governor's reputation in the Madison Statehouse, where he was known as a press hound who relished the attention of reporters.”
In fact, during late March, the governor “was basking in the limelight, holding media scrums and granting impromptu interviews,” Byers stated.
However, after making a few controversial, headline-grabbing quotes when Walker dodged a question about evolution and said he didn't know if president Barack Obama is a Christian, he “put the brakes on his media availability,” reporters who follow him said.
“In the past,” Walker had "repeatedly shown a fearlessness, and even affinity, for patiently taking questions from reporters following the most mundane events or in the face of embarrassing slip-ups," wrote Scott Bauer, a Madison-based reporter who covers Walker for the Associated Press. Now, most of his comments come through formal statements.
“While visiting Europe in April, he held no public events and took no questions from reporters,” Byers asserted. “During the following month, while visiting Israel, he did the same.”
“An aide told the Journal that Walker was going to 'focus on educating himself about Israeli issues and won’t hold public events or take questions from reporters,'” the Politico columnist indicated.
On Friday, the presidential candidate toured the Texas-Mexico border with Texas governor Greg Abbott. The tour was closed to the press, and Walker did not take part in a media availability afterward.
“Similarly, Walker visited Greenville, South Carolina, last weekend but refused to take questions from the media,” Byers noted. “Of the six likely Republican candidates to visit the state in the past two months, Walker was the only one to pass on the press.”
Bauer reported that the Republican governor "has become much harder to reach.”
“Walker isn't totally spurning the media, of course,” Byers noted. “In recent weeks, he's granted interviews to the New Hampshire's Union Leader and the Tampa Bay Times, as well as radio host Hugh Hewitt.
“But he is starting to put limits on his availability to reporters, often declining to hold question-and-answer sessions with them,” the Politico columnist stated, “and restricting their ability to tag along on his travels.”
In a statement sent shortly after the publication of this post, Walker spokesperson AshLee Strong acknowledged that an aide had fielded incoming calls, which she described as "standard."
"All reporters on the call were able to ask questions, and we even had time at the end in which we were actively soliciting more inquiries," she wrote. "No reporters were denied questions."
As NewsBusters previously reported, the New York Times ran several slanted articles seemingly designed to cripple Walker's candidacy, even going so far as to write a front-page expose stating that the Wisconsin governor is “allergic to dog dander.”
Then in mid-July, reporter Dean Reynolds of CBS This Morning stated that Walker “has a reputation as a man who stands on firm conservative principles” but he and his fellow reporters questioned whether the Republican governor is “ready for prime time.”
And to demonstrate just how truly terrified the people at the liberal MSNBC channel are of the GOP candidate, Tamron Hall claimed:
If you're going to order a Philly cheesesteak in Philly, you gotta do it the right way. First, Walker was escorted to the front of the long line at Geno's, a very popular, iconic shop.
Then he ordered a sandwich in the way that was just wrong – with American cheese and no onions.
If that's the kind of "fearless journalism" the media indulges in, is it any wonder that Walker is restricting their access?
