○ US government's clampdown on coronavirus coverage raised public concern amid blurred and sometimes contrary information gaps between authorities and medical experts

○ Mistreating journalists has been a tradition of the US government in the past years as Trump sees some of them as "enemies of people"

US Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a press conference on the coronavirus at the White House in Washington D.C., the US, on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

While the US points fingers at China's coronavirus control efforts, the Trump administration has come under fire for restricting updates of the epidemic to seal off medical information from the media to control the narrative of their public health crisis, which brought the administration's media tussle to a new height.

US media have reported that the White House has developed a controlled approach in releasing coronavirus news to achieve a unified voice from the administration, and to ensure its announcements are "perfectly coordinated and fine-tuned."

According to The New York Times, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, was not allowed to speak on the health crisis without the White House's approval.

After US Vice President Mike Pence was appointed as a commander for the US coronavirus response, several anonymous officials revealed to The New York Times that government health officials and experts were told to keep coordinated in all public statements about the virus under Pence's baton.

The move was regarded as a brake on dissonance in analysis of the virus among US officials after gaps were exposed between the Trump administration and US national health organizations.

The White House regarded other voices as a hindrance to the administration's early attempts to pacify the epidemic outbreak in the US.

The US government's clampdown on coronavirus coverage has raised public concern amid chaotic information disclosure clashes between the White House and US Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) medical experts.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the news media for their "overestimated" threat of the virus, tagging media criticism of his handling of the coronavirus as "fake media which is doing everything possible to make us look bad."

"This is just more efforts by the fake news to create panic among the American people and to speculate on palace intrigue," US political website Politico quoted White House spokesperson Judd Deere as saying.

There were more than 2,952 coronavirus cases in the US, with a death toll of 61 on March 15, statistics showed.

The US House of Representatives passed a coronavirus relief legislation on Saturday to support those affected by novel coronavirus after Trump declared a national emergency on Friday to deal with the health crisis. The announcement came after increased criticism over the government's response to the situation amid the mounting confirmed cases. 

The CDC recommended on Sunday to stop gatherings with 50 people or more but stressed the recommendation "was not intended to supersede the advice of local health officials."

Meanwhile, the Trump administration and the CDC have released conflicting information over the past few weeks.

"The control of information in the US prevents the public from correctly understanding the crisis," Shen Yi, an international relations professor at Shanghai-based Fudan University, told the Global Times.

As to reasons behind such political manipulation, "the information released regarding the epidemic is defined by political posturing on behalf of special interests rather than public well-being and health. It is understandable that public dissatisfaction grows as the outbreak persists, said Shen.

Shen anticipates there will not be less control of information regarding the pandemic following the government's efforts to allocate financial support for a national response. 

Compared with the epidemic, Trump cares more about the stock market, Ni Feng, a deputy director of the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Stocks saw a record high drop of more than 10 percent on February 27 after the CDC confirmed a first unknown origin case of novel coronavirus in the US, CNBC reported.

The stock plunge led to Trump's urgent appointment of Pence to manage epidemic information, Ni said, noting that for Trump, the stock performance is closely related to the upcoming election.

But it did not work much, as limited information exacerbated both stocks and the outbreak, Ni noted.


Not welcome

The control of COVID-19 information is not different from the culture of mistreating the press fostered by the White House and the US Department of State.

Trump has called certain media "the enemy of the people." When the White House or the Department of State feel uncomfortable about some reporters, they abruptly remove them from the media pool.

In August 2019, CNN political analyst Brian Karem's hard press pass was suspended for 30 days by the White House. The passes are given to reporters who regularly cover the White House issues.

On July 11, Karem had a heated exchange with pro-Trump radio host and former White House staffer Sebastian Gorka in the Rose Garden of the White House at Trump's social media summit. Media reported the two had "near-nose-to-nose insults and yelled at each other.

Karem afterwards said that "This is the White House ignoring due process, ignoring the First Amendment, going after reporters, chopping this up piecemeal, going after us one after a time, trying very much to silence a press that has been critical of this administration. And they will use any method to do it."

"I wasn't the first and I won't be the last," he said, CNN reported.

Kaitlan Collins, another White House reporter for CNN, also experienced what CNN called "retaliatory" action from the White House.

On July 25, during a meeting between Trump and then-president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, Collins asked several questions, all of which were refused by Trump.

Collins was excluded in the following press availability in the Rose Garden due to allegedly shouting her "inappropriate questions." But CNN's video clip of the incident suggested that Collins just spoke normally like other journalists.

"Just because the White House is uncomfortable with a question regarding the news of day doesn't mean the question isn't relevant and shouldn't be asked," CNN said in a statement. "This decision to bar a member of the press is retaliatory in nature and not indicative of an open and free press. We demand better."

CNN is not the only target of the White House.

In January, Michele Kelemen, an NPR reporter, was removed from the press pool for Secretary Mike Pompeo's trip to Europe and Central Asia without being given a reason, BBC reported.

However, media linked the removal with harsh questions regarding the administration's intervention in Ukraine from Mary Louise Kelly, another veteran NPR reporter, that were asked days earlier. According to BBC, Pompeo then took Kelly to a private living room and shouted at and cursed her repeatedly.

On a daily briefing on February 24, 2017, the White House press secretary Sean Spicer barred journalists from many main media press conferences. The long list included The New York Times, The Times, BuzzFeed News, CNN, The Los Angeles Times, Politico the BBC and The Huffington Post, according to The New York Times.

"This is an undemocratic path that the administration is traveling," said Marty Baron, the Post's editor. 

US State Department officials said on March 2 that a personnel cap is being imposed on Chinese media companies, forcing them to limit the number of their Chinese employees in the US to 100 from 160.

What the US claims about reciprocity in capping the number of Chinese media employees in the US is actually a discrimination, prejudice and rejection of Chinese media, and China will play along since the US broke the rules of the game in the first place, Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at the press briefing in the following day. Restricting the number of Chinese media employees in the US actually means expelling 60 Chinese journalists, Zhao said.


Tighten the rules

On November 7, 2018, the press pass of Jim Acosta, CNN's chief White House correspondent, was also revoked without warning after Acosta had a "heated exchange with Trump at a press conference.

According to CNN's report, Acosta angered Trump by asking multiple questions before Trump "insulted" Acosta, calling him a "terrible" person.

"CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them," Trump said to Acosta at one point. He also interrupted Acosta's question and told Acosta to put down the microphone.

Even though Acosta's pass was restored several days later, the White House also came up with new rules for news media.

According to the Business Insider, journalists could only be allowed to ask one question. Asking follow-up questions needs the approval of Trump or other White House officials. After asking questions, journalists have to "yield the floor to other journalists."

"'Yielding the floor' includes, when applicable, physically surrendering the microphone to White House staff for use by the next questioner," quoted the report from a statement by Sanders and White House Communication's deputy chief of staff Bill Shine.