Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here| Email Eli | Email Lauren When JILL BIDEN arrived last month in Kibera, a large settlement at the center of Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi, she interacted with locals as she walked through the slum. The scene provided some of the most moving images of her five-day Africa trip. But no one besides a CNN TV crew was there to capture it. That’s because the press pool — the small group of reporters and photographers traveling with the first lady and tasked with sharing information with journalists who aren’t there — was positioned hundreds of feet away. The pool was stuck behind large palm trees, out of sight of the first lady who had allowed CNN to shoot exclusive footage of her interactions. The pool members were livid. “The rest of the U.S. and Kenyan pool missed at least four minutes of her visit because, again, we were being held at least a hundred feet away and behind several trees,” The Washington Post’s JADA YUAN, one of the print poolers on the trip, wrote in an email distributed to the larger press corps. “Pool vehemently objected. The pool had also asked to send two representatives, one US and one from Kenya, to witness the movement and were told no.” It’s not unusual for press outlets to get exclusive interviews, often while the traveling pool holds in a van or room. But the issue on the trip was considered different: The first lady abroad having interactions in a public place — and the pool being held back. The incident raised questions about the East Wing’s communication and the approach it permits to covering her. Those questions were raised during a strained meeting at the White House last Friday afternoon. Attendees included CNN Washington bureau chief SAM FEIST, NBC Washington bureau chief and White House TV pool chair KEN STRICKLAND, NPR’s TAMARA KEITH, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, as well as other WHCA representatives. In addition there were senior East Wing aides and reporters who went on the trip. Some of the journalists in the meeting acknowledged that pool coverage rules for the first lady — who unlike the president does not always have a protective press pool nearby — are far less clear and formal than those used to track the president in real time. But the consensus that emerged was that the first lady’s pool should have access when she’s in a public space. The episode also highlighted some of the challenges the West Wing faces in trying to get reporters to cover the first lady, especially on foreign trips which can be expensive for news outlets and don’t always draw the same clicks or ratings as a presidential tip. According to two people familiar with Friday’s meeting, ELIZABETH ALEXANDER, the first lady’s communications director, made clear that because the first lady is not guaranteed pool coverage in the same way as the president, it can be difficult to get reporters to come on trips to cover the issues she is working on. Often, the best way to do that is by offering splashy exclusives to TV networks or big print outlets. Prior to the trip, Alexander had promised two journalists one-on-ones with Biden in Africa, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. One of the reporters was DARLENE SUPERVILLE, the Associated Press White House correspondent who often travels with the first lady and co-authored a book on her last year. The other interview was with CNN’s ARLETTE SAENZ, the results of which have now been spun into an hour-long special the network will air Monday night in primetime. The problem for other reporters whose outlets also paid to send them to cover Biden was that they weren’t clearly told ahead of time that CNN would be given certain access; and that, ultimately, the first lady made the only major news of the trip in her sit-downs with AP and CNN when they asked about the president’s plan to seek a second term. “If you manage to get access to one of the principals, that’s credit to your news organization,” said a White House reporter. “I don’t ever want to take that away from a fellow journalist. But I want us to play fair.” MESSAGE US — Are you ANTHONY BERNAL, senior adviser to the first lady? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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