Donald Trump’s News Session Starts War With and Within Media

Not only did President-elect Donald Trump break the norms of presidential engagement with the news media, snubbing organizations because of an unflattering story, but he also had elements of a frustrated political press corps warring with one another.

By the time the news conference finished — with Omarosa Manigault, the “Apprentice” star and future member of the White House staff, heckling Jim Acosta of CNN, shouting, “Cut it out!” — President-elect Trump had bobbed and weaved his way through nearly an hour of interrogation, offering vague answers to critical questions about his administration. The treatment of Acosta raised alarms among news media advocates and his fellow journalists, particularly after Acosta described a threat by incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer to eject him from the news conference when he persisted in trying to ask the president-elect a question. Immediately after the news conference, CNN defended its reporting and drew a sharp distinction between its news story and “BuzzFeed’s decision to publish unsubstantiated memos.” On a broadcast, the CNN anchor Jake Tapper said that BuzzFeed’s move “hurts us all.” “It’s irresponsible to put uncorroborated information on the internet,’’ Tapper said. “I can understand why President-elect Trump would be upset about that; I would be upset about it. too.’’