Press corps chaos spills over during Chinese state visit

There was a moment on the South Lawn Thursday when the contrast was too perfect to ignore. Xi Jinping’s delegation stood in neat, orderly rows while American journalists were shoved, shouting, into a penned-off area. If you were looking for a visual metaphor for the difference between a state-run press and a free one, you got it on live television. But the reaction from the White House press corps was less about the hypocrisy of the Chinese system and more about their own bruised egos over where they were allowed to stand.

The coverage of this scrum has been predictably self-centered. The reporters on the scene want us to believe that the real story of a historic state visit was their own discomfort and the fact that a Secret Service agent put a hand on a colleague’s shoulder. It was messy, sure. But in what world is a little jostling for a camera angle an assault on democracy? The press corps wants the protection of a Chinese-style pool arrangement with American-style freedom, and they see any friction between the two as a constitutional crisis rather than a minor logistical hiccup.

President Trump’s relationship with the media is the elephant in the room, and the press uses these moments to paint him as a tyrant. They conveniently ignore that they showed more deference to Obama’s or Biden’s handlers than they ever have to this White House. The double standard is exhausting. What we saw Thursday wasn't a president silencing his critics; it was a security operation managing a crowd of people who believe their own access is more important than the event they are covering.

If the press corps is worried about press freedoms, they might look at their counterparts from Beijing. The Chinese journalists on the ground didn't complain about the barriers; they’re used to a system where the government doesn't ask nicely. The irony that the American media would rather play the victim than acknowledge the relative luxury of their situation is telling. It’s not a war on the media when they get to keep their jobs and their platform. It’s just a scrap over turf, and the rest of the country is tired of hearing about it.