President-elect Joe Biden's transition team disabled the chat function for reporters on conference Zoom calls, where journalists had been pressing officials to take more questions.
"The Biden transition team appears to have disabled the public chat function on its transition zoom calls, a place where I and others had been routinely complaining to them to take more questions," incoming Politico White House editor Sam Stein tweeted Wednesday.
Reporters on the call had to use a "raise hand" function to register they wanted to ask a question.
Stein and other reporters expressed frustration on the chat on Dec. 18 after one Zoom call where the transition team took only five questions.
"Hey guys, there [are] tons of folks looking to ask questions and since this is being done once a week, could we PLEASE go longer or at least hold more frequent briefings," Stein wrote on the chat.
"Any chance you can take a few more questions? There are a lot of folks here with questions," Zeke Miller from The Associated Press added.
"Is there a point in saying we want to ask questions if you only call on the same small group every week?" said White House reporter Andrew Feinberg.
Biden's transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
Biden campaign press secretary T.J. Ducklo told CNN last month that Biden believed "transparency is incredibly important" regarding his relationship with the press.
"He also believes, though, that it's the media's job to hold him accountable," he said. "He's there to do the people's work and he welcomes that relationship. He welcomes their role, the media's role in our democracy and I think it will be, frankly, the polar opposite of what we've seen over the last four years... I think you'll see a huge change in the culture in the way this White House treats the media."
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